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Avesta  Eschatology 


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NEW  YORK 


PROFESSOR   MILLS  AT   HOME 


Avesta  Eschatology 


Compared  zuith 


The  Books  of  Daniel  a7id  Revelations 


Being  supplementary  to 


Zarathushtra^  Philo^  the  Achcsmenids  and  Israel 


by 
Dr.  Lawrence  H.  Mills 

Professor  of  Zend  Philology  in  Oxford 


Chicago 

The  Open  Court  Publishing  Company 

London  Agents 
Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibncr  &  Co.,  Ltd. 

igo8 


Copyright  by 

The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co. 

1908, 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

Preface v 

Chapter  I.    The  Case  Prima  Facie i 

Literary  and  Historical  Connection  Between  the  Avesta  and  the 
ExiHc  Semitic  Scriptures,  i. 

Chapter  II.    The  Conception  of  God  and  the  Terminology  Used.  12 

Chapter  III.    Angelology  with  Demonology 15 

a.  Distinction  in  Personages,  15. — b.  The  Seven  Spirits  of  God,  17. 
— c.  The  Naming  of  the  Archangels,  21. — d.  Iranian  Names  Sug- 
gested Where  Neither  They  Nor  Any  Semitic  Equivalents  Ac- 
tually Appear,  24.  —  c.  Unnamed  Semitic  Angels  With  Aryan 
Analogies,  28. 

Chapter  IV.    The  Concept  of  Eternity  in  General 37 

Chapter  V.    Resurrection.  .^ 39 

a.  Resurrection  in  the  Gatha,  39.  —  b.  Resurrection  in  the  Later 
Avesta,  40. — c.  In  the  Later  Zoroastrianism,  41. 

Chapter  VI.     The  Judgment  in  Daniel  and  in  the  Exilic  and 

Post-Exilic  Theology  in  General ;  Subjective  Recompense.. .  45 

a.  The  Judgment  in  the  Gatha,  46. — b.  Judgment  in  the  Later 
Avesta,  48. — c.  Judgment  in  the  Later  Zoroastrianism,  49. — d.  A 
Recurrence,  for  Illustration,  50. 

Chapter  VII.    Zoroastrianism  in  Its  Distinctive  Characteristics..   53 

The  More  Precise  Sense  in  which  the  Term  is  Applied  Above,  53. 
— The  Avesta  and  the  Veda,  54. — The  Avesta  and  the  Inscriptions, 
56. — The  Dualism,  58. — The  Ameshaspends,  59. — What  is  Exilic? 
59. — Exilic  and  Pre-Exilic,  60. — Perils  of  the  Manuscripts,  60. 

Chapter  VIII.  God  and  His  Immortals 67 

Ahura,  67. — The  Amesha  Spenta,  67. — Asha,  69. — Vohu  Manah, 
72. — Khshathra,  74. — Aramaiti,  75. — Haurvatat,  78. — Ameretatat, 
78. — Their  Counterparts,  80. 


Library  of  Congress  Cataloging  in  Publication  Data 

Mills,  Lawrence  Hey  worth,  1837-1918. 

Avesta  esehatology  compared  with  the  books  of  Daniel 
and  Revelations. 

Reprint  of  the  ed.  published  by  Open  Court  Pub.  Co., 
Chicago. 

1.  Zoroastrianism.  2.  Esehatology.  3.  Judaism- 
Relations— Zoroastrianism.  4.  Christianity  and  other 
religions— Zoroastrianism.  5.  Christianity  and  other 
religions— Judaism.  6.  Zoroastrianism— Relations- 
Christianity.  L  Title. 

BL1515.5.M54  1977     295'.2'3     74-24644 
ISBN  0-404-12816-5 


Original  edition  of  this  book:  Trim  size-  6x9  1/8 
AMS  edition  of  this  book:  Trim  size-  5  1/2x8  1/2 

The  original  text  size  has  been  maintained 

Reprinted  from  the  edition  of  1908,  Chicago 
First  AMS  edition  published  in  1977 
Manufactured  in  the  United  States  of  America 

AMS  PRESS  INC. 
NEW  YORK,  N.Y. 


PREFACE. 

THIS  hurried  booklet  was  fortunately  occasioned  by  a  cordial 
and  repeated  invitation  from  the  well-known  conservative 
writer  Rev.  C.  H.  H.  Wright,  D.D.,  Bampton  Lecturer  for  1878, 
Grinfield  Lecturer  on  the  Septuagint,  etc.,  and  author  of  a  large 
number  of  scholarly  writings  upon  the  various  books  of  the  Bible. 
Wishing  to  enable  his  public  to  have  a  glance  at  all  sides  of  the 
questions  involved  in  the  discussion  of  the  book  Daniel,  he  thought 
that  the  views  of  a  close  specialist  upon  Zoroastrianism  would  be 
useful  if  put  in  the  form  of  an  Appendix  to  his  second  volume, 
though  he  carefully  refrains  from  committing  himself  to  all  that 
his   friends  might  say  in  those  concluding  pieces. 

And  I,  for  the  matter  of  that,  on  the  other  hand,  and  for  my 
part, — as  of  course — likewise  refrain  from  any  responsibility  in- 
volved in  the  pleasing  and  distinguished  connection. 

As  will  be  seen,  this  little  essay  forms  a  short  supplement  to 
my  own  work  just  lately  published  on  Zarathushtra,  Philo,  the 
Achcemenids  and  Israel,  (Open  Court  Publishing  Co.,  1906).  It 
will  not  be  denied  that  such  a  study,  however  brief  it  may  be,  is 
perhaps  the  very  next  thing  of  all  others  that  suggests  itself  as 
necessary  to  be  done  after  the  matter  treated  in  those  well-meant 
and,  in  a  certain  sense,  pioneer  pages.  Here  again  in  a  redoubled 
application  of  the  term,  even  though  occupying  such  a  limited 
space,  in  printed  matter  I  am  also  "pioneer"  once  more,  for  I  do 
not  know  where  any  person  at  all  has  ever  even  thought  of  such  a 
thing  as  comparing  the  ideas  of  the  Bible  with  those  of  the  Avesta ; 
and  that,  as  it  were,  verse  by  verse. 

I  think  that  this  theme,  although  I  attempt  it  here  in  this 
merely  incipient  treatment,  ought  to  prove  interesting,  for  it  is 
absolutely  certain  that  no  further  steps  whatsoever  can  be  made  in 
the  matter  of  exhausting  the  subject  of  Zoroastrian  influence  until 


VI  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

something  similar  to  this  preHminary  sketch  has  been  written  for 
all  the  other  books  of  the  Bible,  if  for  no  other  reason,  then  because 
Exilic  matter  exists — in  my  opinion — in  the  fullest  possible  ampli- 
tude throughout  the  entire  Old  Testament,  least  of  all  excepting 
what  are  generally  and  justly  termed  its  primeval  books ;  see  pages 
59,  and  60  ff.  This  is  a  conviction  which  has  been  long  and  grad- 
ually forming  itself  within  my  mind.  I  will  not  linger  further  upon 
this  point, — except  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  these  views,  here  ex- 
pressed in  this  booklet,  are  necessarily  put  down  in  haste, — if 
anything  can  be  said  to  be  done  in  haste  which  has  been  only 
possible  to  be  done  at  all  after  more  than  thirty  years'  close  labor. 

For  instance,  I  have  not  gone  back  of  the  leading  Biblical  critics 
as  to  Daniel  and  Revelations,  while  I  have  all  along  been  obliged 
so  to  go  back  of  all  critics  (  !)  upon  the  Avesta,  where  I  was 
actually  forced  to  toil  on  from  the  very  first  almost  entirely  as 
an  autodact  upon  my  Via  Media, — and  so  on  for  many  years. 

And  my  long,  arduous,  and  harassing  labor  upon  all  sides  of 
the  Avesta  forms  my  only  apology  for  proceeding  in  a  rather  hur- 
ried manner  upon  one  side  of  my  work  done  here.  My  well-meant 
and  eagerly  appropriated  contributions  to  Zend  Philology  in  its 
main  bulk  certainly  constitute  a  claim  upon  some  at  least  of  our 
Biblical  expositors ; — I  allude  to  those  who  have  broken  away  from 
the  fetters  of  a  theological  nursery,  and  have  proceeded  seriously 
to  discuss  the  Semitic  documents  as  such  ;  while  my  constantly  re- 
attempted  minor  publications  upon  the  particular  point  of  Zoroas- 
trian  influence  upon  our  Judaism  and  Christianity, — if  they  are 
worth  anything  at  all — must  furnish  some  items  for  all  serious 
future  Biblical  critics,  for  they  extend  over  a  period  commencing 
with  1887  to  the  present  day,  including  my  article  on  "Zoroaster 
and  the  Bible"  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  Review  of  January,  1894. 
— the  particular  form  of  the  title  having  been  the  distinguished 
Editor's  suggestion.  Moreover  I  believe  I  am  well-nigh  the  only 
person  with  both  theoretical  and  practical  religious  training  save 
Monseigneur  de  Harlez  and  Monseigneur  Casartelli  who  ever  en- 
tered closely  into  these  difficult  matters.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is 
clearly  my  duty,  and  none  too  soon  accepted,  to  publish  at  once 
what  has  occurred  to  me  to  be  of  interest  upon  the  points  here  at 
issue ;  and  that  without  delay ;  and  I  also  fulfil  this  duty  willingly, 
as  I  hope.  The  short  Appendix  IV  to  the  Rev.  C.  H.  H.  Wright's 
second  volume  upon  Daniel  which  appeared  in  the  spring  of  1906. 
flows  more  freely  in  its  style  than  this  exposition  because  it  was 


PREFACE.  Vll 

penned  off  at  a  single  stroke  after  I  had  much  fatigued  myself  with 
all  the  minor  references  of  this  treatise,  consisting  as  it  does,  of 
a  few  of  my  university  instructional  lectures. 

These  few  chapters  then  constitute  my  study  to  that  other 
more  pleasing  and  still  shorter  summary ; — and  I  trust  they  will 
engage  a  sympathetic  attention  to  the  same  degree. 

Lawrence  H.  Mills. 
Oxford,  October,  1906. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CASE  PRIMA  FACIE. 

Literary  and  Historical  Connection  Between  the  Avesta 
and  the  Exilic  Semitic  Scriptures. 

THE  supposed  Zoroastrian  elements  in  the  Book  of 
Daniel  have  always  been  considered  to  be  very  strik- 
ing; but  as  they  form  a  part  of  a  whole  with  their  prede- 
cessors and  successors,  they  cannot  be  estimated  altogether 
aside  from  other  Exilic  matter.  So  that  the  entire  ancient 
religious  literature  of  the  Jews  is  brought  into  the  ques- 
tion, though  as  a  matter  of  course  the  limits  of  the  space 
at  my  disposal  here  do  not  permit  me  to 'treat  the  whole 
of  it  in  this  section.  And  if  Zoroastrian  elements  appear 
anywhere  at  all  within  the  Jewish  ancient  literature,  we 
may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  entire  mass  of  Zoroastrian 
doctrine  must  have  exerted  the  most  decided  influence 
upon  the  developments  of  Jewish  Exilic  and  of  the  Chris- 
tian theology,  for  a  part  here  proves  the  presence  and  in- 
fluence of  the  whole. 

And  this  at  once,  as  I  need  not  say,  entails  the  gravest 
possible  consequences  in  our  decisions  as  to  the  vital  mat- 
ter of  precedence  or  sequence  in  the  intellectual  forces 
here  brought  into  consideration,  as  they  develop  them- 
selves and  become  manifest  in  our  histories  of  religious 
thought. 

The  objective  before  us,  then,  is  to  illustrate,  from  vari- 
ous points  of  view  taken  here  and  for  the  present  neces- 


2  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

sarily  from  .restricted  portions  of  the  Semitic  Scriptures, 
the  admitted  fact  that  the  Jewish  tribes  entered  a  new 
intellectual  world  at  the  so-called  Captivity,  and  then  that 
this  sphere  was  largely  dominated  by  Medo-Persian  as 
well  as  by  Babylonian  ideas,  and  that  it  was  therefore  to 
a  degree  Zoroastrian,  and  that  upon  this  it  was  built  up 
as  a  mass  of  national  religious  sentiment  and  system. 


It  is,  however,  necessary  for  me  to  interpose  here  an 
important  precautionary  salvo.  It  is  this:  that  the  Per- 
sian theology  with  which  we  are  here  called  upon  to  deal, 
is,  if  we  must  judge  from  its  surviving  documents,  divis- 
ible into  two  branches  or  schools:  the  Median,  the  more 
thoroughly  Zoroastrian  as  represented  by  the  Zend- 
Avesta,  and  the  Southern  school  of  Persepolis  as  repre- 
sented by  the  Achsemenian  Inscriptions.  It  is  of  course 
possible  that  these  two  portions  of  the  Mazda-worship 
interest  may  not  really  have  differed  from  each  other  as 
much  as  their  now  surviving  documents  would  seem  to 
indicate;  while  their  close  relation  in  spite  of  all  conceiv- 
able divergence  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be  contested,  for 
they  have  much  that  is  essential  in  common ;  and  they  must 
each  be  considered  as  at  times  expressing  but  one  and  the 
same  phase  of  religious  conception;  but  still  it  is  safer  to 
form  our  judgments  from  these  actually  surviving  wri- 
tings, particularly  as  each  of  them  is  of  a  signal  character 
in  its  particular  sphere. 

So  looked  upon,  it  is  chiefly  the  Median  Mazda  worship, 
that  is  to  say,  the  Zoroastrian,  centering  in  Ragha.  which 
is  here  brought  into  bearing  with  the  grave  questions 
which  we  are  discussing,  rather  than  the  Achsemenian  or 
Daric  inscriptional  elements  on  which  I  here  chiefly  rely, 
and  to  which  I  here  first  of  all  refer  as  at  once.  With  the 
two  lores  in  view,  that  is  to  say,  with  that  of  the  Exilic 


THE   CASE   PRIMA   FACIE.  3 

Pharisaism  on  the  one  side  and  that  of  the  Zend-Avesta 
on  the  other,  we  have  two  occurrences  of  the  most  im- 
portant possible  of  rehgious  ideas  that  have  ever  been 
propagated,  present  in  two  rehgious  systems  brought 
closely  into  connection  with  each  other,  as  I  show  just 
below,  one  of  which,  the  Jewish  Exilic,  dominates  all 
Western  civilization;  and  this  actual  historical  literary 
connection  between  them,  if  it  be  proved  to  our  satisfac- 
tion to  be  a  fact,  cannot  help  but  afford  occasion  for  the 
deepest  possible  reflection  and  inquiry,  which  must  also  be 
regarded  as  pre-eminently  interesting  from  several  points 
of  view. 

We  must  first  of  all  mention  and  make  clear  what  may 
be  called  the  incontestable  points  of  literary  connection 
between  these  Iranian  and  Semitic  lores  from  this  line  of 
thought,  corroborative  particulars  from  other  sources  fol- 
lowing in  due  course;  for,  as  I  have  said,  if  anything  at  all 
approaching  to  a  literary  connection  between  the  two  cen- 
ters of  intelligence  can  be  established,  our  case  is  by  the 
very  fact  of  it  made  out,  with  all  that  it  involves;  for 
Zoroastrianism  is  the  main  document  of  our  eschatology, 
a  fact  which  should  be  taken  everywhere  for  granted,  as 
the  slightest  examination  would  confirm  it.*  And  first  of 
all  in  our  further  procedure  we  have  to  note  the  general 
features  of  the  situation. 

*       *       * 

The  entire  mass  of  the  Medo-Persian  Mazda-worship 
is,  as  we  assert,  brought  into  close  association  with  Juda- 
ism in  an  unparalleled  manner  in  the  familiar  passages 
which  meet  us  in  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  the  later 
Isaiah,  Daniel,  etc.,  and  in  the  entire  Exilic  and  post-Exilic 
Jewish  and  Christian  literatures,  that  is  to  say,  when  this 
mass  of  profoundly  interesting  religious  detail  is  studied 

*  From  start  to  finish  we  have  everywhere  in  Zoroastrianism  the  main 
points  of  our  eschatology;  there  was  no  other  lore  at  the  period  of  the  oldest 
Avesta  which  so  expressed  the  doctrines  almost  in  modern  terms. 


4  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

in  connection  with  the  Achsemenian  inscriptions  of  the 
Persian  kings  whose  edicts  are  cited  in  the  Bible.  To 
speak  of  Exihc  Jewish  history  is  then  to  speak  of  Persian 
history  in  one  of  its  most  interesting  episodes,  and  vice 
versa ;  for  such  allusions  center  in  the  superlative  circum- 
stances, of  the  so-called  Return  of  the  Jewish  Tribes  and 
the  re-establishment  of  their  religion  upon  its  original  rep- 
resentative site  with  the  to  us  so  momentous  consequences. 
And  no  statements  could  be  stronger,  as  might  be  said, 
than  those  well-known  familiar  ones  which  are  every- 
where so  prominent  in  the  documents  themselves,  with  per- 
haps Isaiah  xliv  or  xlv  at  their  head.  The  Persian  Empe- 
ror who  represented  his  religion  (see  the  inscriptions) 
is  there  accepted  as  the  "anointed  of  Yahveh" — an  ex- 
pression which  carried  with  it  the  assurance  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  deepest  possible  religious  sentiment  with  re- 
gard to  the  exalted  personage  to  whom  it  alludes ;  and  this 
with  a  salvo  in  verse  7  which  doubly  accentuates  the  af- 
firmatives. So  much  for  the  connection  prima  facie.  But 
when  we  have  said  this  we  must  proceed  to  mention  here, 
although  still  only  in  a  preliminary  sense,  some  individual 
particulars,  as  a  further  succinct  but  necessary  introduc- 
tion of  our  subject,  though  some  of  these  will  necessarily 

occupy  our  attention  again  in  their  detail  further  on. 

*       *       * 

The  first  of  them  would  be  perhaps  that  truly  monu- 
mental circumstance  in  the  Medo-Persian  Jewish  religious 
history,  the  presence  of  the  "Seven  Spirits"  of  the  Zend- 
Avesta  in  Job,  Zechariah,  Tobit  and  the  Apocalypse.  The 
first 'mentioned,  the  occurrence  in  Job,  indeed  lacks  the 
mention  of  the  number  "Seven,"  but  the  "walking  to  and 
fro  in  the  Earth"  is  characteristic,  while  in  the  occurrence 
in  Tobit  xii.  15  we  have  both  the  words  together,  and  the 
ideas  are  especially  clinched  to  the  Iranian  work  by  the 
mention  of  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  Gathic  demons  (Tobit 


THE   CASE   PRIMA   FACIE.  5 

iii.  8.  17;  viii.  3)  in  close  association  with  them  (the  seven 
Ameshaspends),  added  to  which  we  have  the  Avesta  city 
Ragha  mentioned  more  than  once,  and  all  in  the  same 
book. 

The  tale  of  the  Book  of  Tobit  seems  indeed  to  be  a 
story  largely  centering  about  the  Zoroastrian  capital,  if 
we  might  so  call  the  most  prominent  place  mentioned  in  the 
Avesta:  see  Tobit  i.  10,  14:  "And  I  went  into  Media  and 
kept  ten  talents  of  silver  in  trust  with  Gabriel  the  brother 
of  Gabrias  at  Rases,  a  city  in  Media"  see  also  Tobit  iv.  i ; 
iv.  20;  V.  5;  vi,  9;  vi.  12;  ix.  2;  xiv.  4. 

Ragha,  as  we  know,  was  so  completely  Zoroastrian 
that  the  very  name  "Zarathushtra"  became  a  civic  title 
there  of  high  order,  and  it  was  even  used  in  the  superlative 
degree  as  "most  Zarathushtra,"  totally  losing  the  signifi- 
cance of  its  original  application  to  the  particular  family 
of  the  distinguished  prophet. 

Kohut*  also  with  much  probability  likewise  found  the 
common  Persian  word  Khshathra,  which  is  also  the  name 
of  the  third  Avestic  Ameshaspend,  in  Esther  as  well  as 
in  Daniel.  This  would  of  course  only  help  to  illustrate 
still  more  the  close  Persian  relation,  which  we  may  regard 
as  hardly  contested;  but  with  much  sagacity  he  noticed 
the  "uer"  of  Ahasuerus,  which  equals  "ver";  and  in  it 
he  with  much  plausibility  saw  not  only  the  Persian  Khsha- 
thra— the  "Ahas"  having  resulted,  as  so  often  in  similar 
cases,  from  contraction  plus  the  added  incipient  "A" — 
but  he  saw  the  Avestic  Khshathra-vairya,  the  "ver"  repre- 
senting this  latter  part  of  the  compositum,  as  indeed  it 
does  also  in  the  Pahlavi  middle  Persian,  Khshathra  and 
Vairya  also  occurring  in  close  association  even  in  the 
Gathas.f  The  asserted  analogies  between  the  Persian, 
the  Jewish,  and  the   Babylonian  month-names,  are  also 

*  See  his  work  cited  below,  now  of  course  antiquated,  but  still  suggestive, 
flf  indeed  this   recognition  be  not  beyond  dispute,  it  yet  awakens  our 
attention  and  our  zeal  to  search  for  other  analogies. 


6  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

particularly  significant.  Not  pausing  upon  what  may  be 
considered  especially  controversial  in  Benfey's  attempted 
identifications  here  (see  also  his  successors),  it  will  be  con- 
venient to  call  especial  attention  to  the  signal  word  "Adar" 
(Atar),  which  is  purely  Persian,  both  in  its  literal  mean- 
ing and  in  its  here  so  significant  application.  No  scholar 
can  have  failed  to  become  aware  that  the  word  for  fire, 
while  well-nigh  the  most  common  word  of  its  kind  in  the 
Persian,  is  at  the  same  time  perhaps  the  most  sacred  of 
its  sort  in  that  language;  for  the  element  was  personified 
as  an  Angel  and  has  a  Yasht  really,  though  not  formally, 
devoted  to  it,  and  this  in  the  genuine  if  yet  later  Avesta. 

Zoroastrians  have  also  been  for  a  long  time  called 
'Tire  worshipers,"  on  account  of  their  especial  use  of 
fire  in  worship,  which  was  rather  more  pronounced  than 
its  adoption  among  the  Hebrews  except  perhaps  in  the 
Exilic  and  post-Exilic  times ;  and  even  here  the  use  of  the 
Seven  Lamps  to  symbolize  the  Seven  Spirits,  which  lingers 
in  the  Church  is  perhaps  not  so  striking  as  the  fire  altars 
perpetually  burning  in  the  Zoroastrian  temples.  And  the 
influence  of  the  ideas  which  center  in  this  "element"  was 
so  marked  that  an  important  province  to  the  southwest 
of  the  Caspian  Sea  was  named  Azerbaigan  Adharbagan.* 

It  was  also  in  connection  with  the  names  of  others  of 
the  most  holy  concepts  in  Iranian  thought  that  the  word 
"Adar"  was  so  prominently  adopted  as  the  name  of  a 
Parsi  month,t  as  it  is  also  in  both  the  Jewish  and  the  As- 
syrian; and  this  circumstance,  though  it  is  not  at  all  the 
most  incisive  of  the  initial  features,  is  yet  one  of  the  most 
convincing,  and  affords  formidable  proof  of  early  Iranian 
influence  upon  Babylon. 

*The  Holy  Fire  was  not  perhaps  as  yet  personified  in  the  Gatha,  but  it 
is  still  most  reverently  mentioned.  Some  Parsis  have,  I  think,  cherished  the 
belief  that  the  fires  upon  the  chief  altars  in  the  Fire  Temples  were  ongmally 
supernaturally  imparted. 

tAs  a(far  =  "fire"  was  a  word  otherwise  totally  unknown  to  the  Semitic 
languages  in  this  sense,  the  facts  are  peculiarly  important. 


THE   CASE   PRIMA   FACIE.  7 

As  this  item  is  so  incisive  in  the  impression  which  it 
makes  upon  us  I  will  dwell  for  a  moment  longer  upon  it 

here. 

Here  is  a  month  named  "Adar"  in  the  Babylonian,  the 
Jewish  and  the  Persian  languages.  To  the  Babylonian 
and  the  Hebrew,  the  term  is  wholly  foreign,  certainly  so 
if  it  meant  "fire"  in  Babylonian  and  Hebrew;  but  in  the 
Iranian  Medo-Persian  it  is  one  of  the  most  common  of 
all  household  terms,  also  emphatically  sanctified  for  the 
sacrifice,  and  its  application  in  Iranian  to  the  naming  of  a 
month  accentuates  its  distinction.  To  which  then  of  the 
three  languages,  which  each  used  it  for  a  month,  was  it 
originally  so  applied? 

Is  it  likely  that  the  Babylonians  developed  out  of  their 
own  speech,  and  as  if  by  accident,  a  word  which  was  ex- 
ternally identical  with  this  Persian  term,  at  once  so  com- 
mon and  so  distinguished,  and  without  the  smallest  hint 
from  Persian  usage  applied  it  also  to  a  month  as  the 
Iranians  have  done — a  month  being  presumably  as  sacred 
an  interval  of  time  to  the  Babylonians  as  it  was  to  the 
Iranians?* 

Was  it  there  used  as  a  pure  Syrian  word  "Adar" 
in  a  territory  which  may  have  been  overrun  by  Persian 
influences  at  some  immemorial  epoch,  (which  is  one  of 
my  present  contentions),  and  which  was  at  an  early  date 
soon  after  the  first  Exile  actually  known  to  have  been  so 
overrun,  proving  that  this  Iranian  word  may  well  have 
later  crept  into  the  earlier  Hebrew  texts  in  the  ever- 
repeated  recopying  of  manuscripts?  Is  it  likely  then  that 
this  term,  universally  used  in  Iranian  for  "fire,"  should 
have  any  other  meaning  when  applied  to  a  Syrian  Deity, 
''fire"  having  universal  claims  to  worship,  an  element 
which  could  not  help,  as  we  might  almost  say  of  it,  be- 

*  See  the  word  applied  to  a  Syrian  god  in  Palestine  as  reported  not  very 
long  ago. 


8  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

coming-  a  god?  And  if  the  Syrian,  Assyrian,  or  Babylonian 
word  meant  "fire"  also,  its  Iranian  origin  is  certain.  See 
also  Tebeth,  an  Iranian  word,  which  is  also  a  Semitic 
month  name,  from  Avesta,  tap,  "to  burn,"  cp.  Tabistan  = 
"summer."  Not  to  speak  of  Ab  as  again  a  month  of 
"water,"  nor  of  Tishri  as  Tishtrya,  Tishtar,  being  a  prom- 
inent Persian  star  and  later  Sirius,  yet  also  with  the  others 
applied  to  a  Persian  month ;  see  even  Khisleu  which  might 
easily  recall  Khashathra  as  contracted,  a  Parsi  month,  as 
"s"="t,"  "th,"  and  "I"  is  easy  for  "r,"  etc.  This  point 
as  regards  Adar,  we  should  say  in  passing,  controls  this 
situation  here.  If  one  Babylonian  month  name  was  Ira- 
nian, it  is  not  sound  criticism  for  us  to  hold  to  an  isolated 
occurrence;  "many  or  none"  should  be  our  principle.  Even 
if,  conceivably,  the  Iranian  month  names,  all  intensely  na- 
tive to  Medo-Persian  as  they  are,  were  later  taken  over 
from  Babylon  after  having  been  previously  adapted  there 
from  Iran  in  other  applications — even  upon  the  supposi- 
tion that  they,  while  wholly  Iranian,  had  never  before  as 
yet  been  used  in  Iran  as  month  names  till  they  had  been 
first  so  used  in  Babylon — notwithstanding  this  so  singular 
presupposition,  the  fact  would  remain  as  clearly  proved 
that  these  Iranian  words  had  singular  power  in  Babylon 
at  an  extremely  early  date.  These  considerations  taken  all 
together  almost  make  us  credit  the  old  opinions  of  a  once 
paramount  semi-Iranian  influence  in  Babylon  or  in  pre- 
Babylonian  times  as  being  intimately  associated  with  the 
intellectual  elements  of  Akad  and  Sumer.*  And  this,  as 
we  should  never  forget,  was  also  a  priori  more  than  prob- 
able; for  Iran  could  not  have  developed  even  to  the  posi- 
tion occupied  by  the  first  Achaemenid  except  during  the 
course  of  some  centuries  and  without  having  made  its 
energetic  influence  often  felt  upon  neighboring  states. 

*  Look  at   Apsu   as   plain   Iranian ;    Aps   with    Semitic   nominative   suffix. 
See  also  Patesi,  the  name  of  an  Akkadian  ruler,  Avesta  Paitish,  etc. 


THE   CASE   PRIMA   FACIE.  9 

There  is  one  other  serious  point  here  which  I  would 
introduce  as  if  in  parentheses,  though  it  may  not  seem 
to  be  immediately  relevant;  it  is  this.  Some  advanced 
scholars  seem  never  to  have  become  at  all  aware  of  such 
a  fact  as  that  all  the  Persian  Ameshaspends  with  many 
of  their  satellites,  whose  names  are  used  for  the  months 
and  the  days  of  the  months,  were  likewise  Vedic,  though 
scattered  and  not  numbered  six  or  seven  in  the  RIK;  nor 
yet  at  all  applied  in  the  same  way  to  the  calendar.  And 
this  all  the  more  connects  the  entire  body  of  Iranian  re- 
ligious thought  with  the  great  southeastern  Indian  sys- 
tems rather  than  with  the  southwestern  Babylonian,  for 
the  Vedic  is  and  was  a  veritable  fellow-branch  with  the 
Iranian  in  one  and  the  same  vast  primeval  faith.  But  this 
circumstance  also  imparts  immensely  greater  solidity  to 
the  entire  structure  of  the  Iranian  religious  system,  show- 
ing it  to  possess  a  predominant  objectivity,  which  together 
with  its  incisive  clearness  naturally  impressed  itself  upon 
its  neighbor  the  Assyrian.  As  we  shall  be  obliged  later  on 
to  bring  in  facts  which  postdate  the  NeW  Testament  and 
which  yet  exercise  a  very  important  influence  upon  the 
issues  of  this  discussion,  (see  below),  we  must  continue 
on  our  preliminary  remarks  one  step  further  here  and 
refer  to  some  post-Christian  elements. 

Much  additional  information  of  an  interior  character 
has  been  collected  by  Kohut  out  of  the  various  early  sec- 
tions of  the  Talmud,  some  of  it  dating  so  early  as  before 
A.  D.  226.  Prominent  among  these  particulars,  and  as 
in  analogy  with  the  general  Persian  atmosphere  of  the 
Exile  period  noted  above,  would  be  the  favored  condition 
of  the  Jews  under  the  Parthian  Arsacids,  which  would  be 
available  as  a  point  so  far  back,  let  us  say,  as  150  A.  D.  at 
least  ;*  and  perhaps  the  still  more  incisive  manifestation  of 

*  Their  political  representative,  the  Exile  arch,  ranked  fourth  after  the 
sovereign.    See  Kohut's  citation. 


lO  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

disfavor  under  the  Sasanids,  from  226  A.  D.  on,  may  be 
also  highly  valued  for  our  purpose,  for  persecution  some- 
times* brings  out  details*of  intellectual  connection  more 
sharply  even  than  sympathetic  treatment.f  Next  to  this 
and  as  again  parallel  to  what  is  above  cited,  Kohut, 
with  a  very  fair  degree  of  probability  indeed,  sees  Haur- 
vatat  and  Ameretatat  in  later  but  still  early  portions  of 
the  Talmud ;  while  the  Cinvat  Bridge  is  clearly  mentioned 
somewhere  also,  though  here  I  can  quote  only  from  mem- 
ory, the  very  striking  particulars  of  Yasht  XXII  appear. 
And  what  shall  we  say  to  the  somewhat  late  but  most  cer- 
tain existence  of  Avesta  But,  Mush,  and  the  Ashemaogha  ? 
Then  still  later  we  have  also  Talmudic  Mittron  possibly  for 
Mithra,  ur-iel  for  Hvare-nah,  etc.,  etc.J  If  these  items, 
thus  as  it  were  hastily  inserted  before  our  more  extended 
discussion,  possess  any  validity  at  all,  then  they  should 
already  produce  an  incipient  conviction  in  our  minds  and 
so  at  once  begin  to  make  us  believe  all  the  acutely  interest- 
ing and  solemn  facts  involved  in  the  partially  approximate 
identity  of  the  Persian  and  Israelitish  Exilic  lores. 

After  the  above  preliminary  items  which  I  trust  may  be 
considered  incontestable,  as  proving  prima  facie  the  con- 
nection between  the  Exilic  Jewish  religious  literature  and 
that  of  the  Iranians,  the  first  particular  in  the  division  of 
the  subject  would  be  the  name  and  conception  of  the 
Supreme  Being ;  then,  those  of  his  supernatural  personified 
creatures;  the  conception  of  his  eternity  in  general,  to- 

*  If  not  as  the  general  rule. 

t  At  the  festivals  especially  held  to  the  Fire  the  Persian  authorities  entered 
the  dwellings  of  the  Jews,  and  put  out  all  the  lights;  and  so  at  the  festivals 
in  honor  of  the  holy  waters  they  deprived  them  of  its  use.  See  Kohut  s  cita- 
tions. 

t  Aspiration  comes  and  goes ;  see  Kohut  everywhere,  "ur-"  might  well  be 
"Hur"—  and  this  easily  "Hvar."  Those  who  criticise  Kohut  too  freely  should 
remember  that  one  has  to  be  a  critic  to  criticise  a  critic.  Much  that  is  saga- 
cious is  utterly  lost  upon  non-experts.  See  "Jiidische  Angelologie,  Abhand- 
Itingen  fur  die  Kunde  des  Morgenlandes,  Vol.  IV,  1866,  by  A.  Kohut.  bee 
also  his  successors,  N.  Soderblom,  Ernst  Bloken,  L.  H.  Gray,  etc. 


THE   CASE  PRIMA   FACIE.  II 

gether  with  angelic  and  human  immortahty ;  resurrection ; 
judgment;  millennial  perfection  and  heaven;  heaven  and 
hell ;  and  finally  our  conclusions  as  to  what  is  really  Zoro- 
astrian,  and  as  to  what  is  really  Exilic,  and  as  to  how  far 
the  Hebrew  eschatology  is  original  with  Israel. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CONCEPTION  OF  GOD  AND  THE  TERMINOLOGY  USED. 

AMONG  the  names  applied  to  the  Supreme  Being  the 
.  expression  "God  of  Heaven,"  also  used  in  the  alleged 
Edicts  of  Cyrus^  and  his  Biblical  successors  (see  2  Chron- 
icles, Ezra,  etc.)  appears  to  be  certainly  Exilic,  even  where 
it  may  now  occur  amidst  matter  formerly  believed  to  be 
pre-Exilic.  It  recalls  vividly  the  universal  Aryan  name 
Deva,^  Zeus,  Deus,  Dieu,  etc.,  for  Deity,  which  in  the 
Aryan  vernacular  was  Diva,  "the  shining  sky,"^  so 
D(a)eva,  to  Indian  div.  In  Avesta  and  its  sequents  the 
fine  term  became  unhappily  inverted  in  its  application  ow- 
ing to  theological  antipathies  and  jealousies,  and  was  act- 
ually applied  to  demons  through  all  Zoroastrian  literature. 
But  the  Iranians  themselves,  as  there  can  be  Httle  doubt, 
used  "D(a)eva,"  originally  in  the  holy  sense,  with  all  the 
rest  of  Arya,  and  the  sad  misuse  is  one  proof  more  of  the 
posteriority  even  of  the  early  Avesta  to  the  earliest  Veda. 
Then  the  expression  "living  God"  recalls  the  etymology  of 
Ahura  (Inscriptional  Aura)  the  root  being  /4/iw  =  "life" 
among  other  things;  -ra  is  mere  suffix.  This  singularly 
effective  word  is  indeed  applied  to  Ameshaspends,  and 
even  to  a  human  spiritual  Lord,  and  this  in  the  oldest 
Avesta ;  but  we  are  none  the  less  entitled  to  think  of  "life" 
and  the  "living"  One  when  we  meet  its  well-nigh  universal 

*  See  Ezra  i. 

'  So  first  suggested  by  me  in  T.  R.  A.  S. 

'  See  Daniel. 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  GOD.  I3 

application  to  the  Supreme  Deity,  recalling  also  Vedic 
dsura  and  its  equivalents  (see  above).  Not  long  since 
a  scholar  would  indeed  have  cited  Yahveh  as  a  Jewish 
analogon ;  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  Jews  themselves 
once  mistook  the  word  for  the  first  person  singular  of  the 
Hebrew  verb  meaning  "to  be."  And  this  supervening  and 
secondary  understanding  of  the  term,  entirely  aside  from 
our  restored  modern  explanations  of  it,  quite  fully  suffices 
to  establish  an  interior,  if  independent,  analogy  between 
it  and  Ahura.  Analogies  are  often  quite  valid  for  the  pur- 
pose of  tracing  the  presence  and  connection  of  ideas  here 
apart  even  from  errors  or  misgrowths;  for  "connection" 
quite  as  often  reveals  itself  in  grotesque  anomalies.  See 
even  the  striking  inscriptional  expression  "King  of  Kings" 
applied  to  God  in  Hebrew  as  well  as  to  the  Messiah  and  to 
Nebuchadnezzar  (Daniel  ii.  37) ;  see  it  dwelt  upon  below, 
whereas  in  its  signal  occurrence  upon  Behistan  it  is  used 
of  Darius;  yet  this  last  insertion,  though  dating  so  late 
as  B.  C.  500,  circa,  clearly  proves  that  the  expression  was 
predominantly  Persian  in  its  original  application,  for  it  is 
not  possible  that  it  could  not  have  been  used  in  Iran  in  the 
course  of  Iranian  history  centuries  before  it  was  applied  in 
this  same  sense  in  the  Inscription.  And  it  therefore  af- 
fords a  strong  additional  proof  of  a  connection  of  religious 
ideas.  So  we  hear  of  the  "Ancient  of  Days,"  which  recalls 
Zrvani  akarane,  meaning  "in  boundless  time":  see  the 
Vendidad  XIX,  an  expression  of  much  importance  as  sav- 
oring of  philosophic  speculation,  but  at  another  day  (as 
possibly  in  the  Bible'')  it  becomes  a  proper  name  for  an 
Eternal  Creator ;  we  have  even  a  sect  of  Zervanites.  Yet 
this  connection,  though  subjected  to  a  twist,  is  valid  in  ex- 
actly the  same  manner,  and  deeply  interesting.  Moreover 
it  must  be  clearly  held  in  mind  that  a  vast  mass  of  anal- 
ogies must  be  so  estimated  while  yet  cited:  see  on  ahead, 

*  See  Daniel. 


14  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

where  no  pretence  whatsoever  is  to  be  put  forward  by  me 
to  any  certain  immediate  Hterary  connection.  My  objec- 
tive, as  already  stated,  is  the  existence  of  a  post-Exihc 
intellectual  atmosphere  in  Persian  Babylonia,  and  so  also 
in  Persian  Jerusalem,  an  atmosphere  which  was  vital  to 
the  new  religious  aspirations  of  the  Jews — in  fact  totally 
transforming  them;  and  that  this  atmosphere  was  more 
Iranian  than  Babylonian ;  but  much  detail  of  an  otherwise 
very  inferior  character  goes  to  make  firm  our  convictions 
as  to  this.  It  is  often  a  question  as  to  what  may  have 
circulated  as  mere  hearsay. 

Resuming, — we  have  again  a  firm  clincher  to  the  idea 
of  eternity  in  the  Deity  as  being  an  Iranian  concept;  and 
this  is  afiforded  by  the  name  of  the  last  Ameshaspend, 
Ameretatat;  recall  "who  only  hath  immortality"^  (Tim- 
othy vii.  i6). 

"A  curious  expression  for  the  Bible  to  make  use  of.  It  looks  indeed  as 
if  "immortality"  were  a  special  title;  otherwise  what  is  the  sense  of  it  at  all? 
Surely  it  is  not  a  New  Testament  doctrine  that  no  one  but  God  has  "immor- 
tality." 


CHAPTER  III. 

ANGELOLOGY  WITH  DEMONOLOGY. 

a.  Distinction  in  Personages. 

ANGELIC  personages  become  discriminated  as  to  their 
>.  rank  as  greater  or  less,  in  the  ExiHc  and  post- Exilic 
Scriptures,  and  this  marks  still  further  the  interesting 
change  in  the  religious  history  of  Israel.  In  the  genuine  pre- 
Exilic  period  the  angelology  was  extremely  indefinite,  hav- 
ing been  even  thought  by  some  to  be  a  mere  theophany, 
at  best  a  simple  messenger-sending  from  the  Deity  with- 
out the  supposition  of  any  very  distinct"  personal  charac- 
eristics  in  the  supernatural  messenger  himself.  We  find 
also  naturally  little  trace  of  any  very  exceptional  hyper- 
exaltations  of  individual  angelic  or  demoniac  spiritual  be- 
ings aside  from,  and  independent  of,  their  use  as  convey- 
ors of  the  Divine  wishes  upon  particular  occasions.  But 
in  the  Exile  not  only  are  some  of  these  concepts  apparently 
selected  to  ''surround  the  Throne,"  but  individual  beings 
appear  in  a  most  predominant  attitude  as  "Prince"  and 
"Prince  of  Princes."  (See  Daniel  viii.  25) :  An  especially 
prominent  angel  seems  even  intended  to  be  represented  as 
the  agent  in  raising  the  dead,  like  the  Saoshyants'  of  Iran: 
See  Daniel  xii.  i,  2:  "At  that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up, 
the  great  Prince  which  standeth  for  thy  people."  See 
also  the  expression  "Sons  of  God"  after  the  Iranian  idea 

*  He  was  himself  not  an  angel,  but  the  first  recorded  concept  of  a  final 
Redeemer  restoring  all  things;  see  elsewhere  and  below. 


lb  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

in  Yasht  XIII  and  elsewhere  where  the  Iranian  Arch- 
angels "have  all  one  Father  Ahura." 

Whether  the  other  t^o  in  Daniel  xii.  5,  6,  are  to  be 
reckoned  as  "Princes"  is  not  certain,  but  the  occurrences 
already  mentioned  suffice  to  show  an  exceptional  eminence 
conceded  to  an  exceedingly  small  number  of  these  believed- 
in  supernatural  persons.  Similarly  see  also  Daniel  x.  21, 
where  Michael,  "Your  Prince,"  almost  demands  a  like 
interpretation  to  the  expressions  "Prince  of  Persia,"  (see 
Daniel  x.  13,  20),  and  even  to  the  expressions  "Prince  of 
Grecia."    If  it  is  written: 

"The  Prince  of  the  Kingdom  of  Persia  withstood  him, 
Daniel,  one  and  twenty  days, — and,  lo, — Michael,  one  of 
your  Princes,  came  to  help  me,"  then  as  Michael,  the  Prince 
was  an  Archangel,  it  would  seem  only  fair  for  us  to  sup- 
pose that  the  term  "Prince  of  Persia"  may  possibly  have 
some  inclusive  allusion  to  a  supernatural  being  notwith- 
standing the  positive  presence  of  Persian  political  person- 
ages in  the  connection;  and  so  the  expression  "Prince  of 
Grecia"  must  be  somewhat  accounted  for  in  the  same  man- 
ner. Of  course  the  word  "Prince"  here  used  has  also  its 
further  and  more  natural  application;  and  in  fact  it  is 
quite  possible  that  the  entire  use  of  the  term  "Prince"  here 
as  applied  to  the  Archangels  may  have  been  first  suggested 
by  the  necessary  mention  of  the  political  Princes  whose  ac- 
tion forms  here  the  subject  under  discussion.  Again,  on  the 
contrary,  the  idea  may  have  been  led  off  by  the  very  prom- 
inent position  of  the  national  Archangels  of  Media  reck- 
oned as  "Princes,"  a  leading  one  among  them  having  actu- 
ally the  name  of  Khshathra  which  maybe  rendered  "Sover- 
eign" or  "Prince" ;  so  that,  to  be  exhaustive,  it  is  desirable 
to  mention  that  even  the  "Prince  of  Grecia"  in  Daniel  x. 
13,  20,  might  point  toward  a  semi-extinct  angelology  fur- 
ther west ;  but  I  fear  we  should  be  hardly  warranted  here. 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  I7 

b.  The  Seven  Spirits  of  God} 

It  is  in  Zechariah,  Tobit,  and  Revelations  that  a  few 
of  these  more  prominent  concepts  are  spoken  of  as  a  com- 
pany of  seven ;  see  where  I  have  already  necessarily  indi- 
cated this  by  anticipation  above,  and  what  I  shall  say  here 
should  be  regarded  as  being  of  the  nature  of  necessary 
amplification.  In  the  latter  book  this  expression  becomes 
frequent.  Nothing  could  more  accord  with  the  Medo-Per- 
sian  Zoroastrian  usage,  which  may  also  have  expressed 
itself  with  a  prominence  which  spread  and  maintained 
the  concepts  everywhere  within  the  vast  Perso-Babylonian 
territory. 

No  one  will  suppose  that  I  attach  any  especial  impor- 
tance to  the  number  seven  in  itself  considered,  for  it  is  of 
well-nigh  universal  application  in  Holy  Scripture,  possibly 
having  had  its  real  origin  in  the  seven  days  of  a  week  in 
a  month  of  about  twenty-eight  days ;  but  the  application  of 
this  number  to  certain  conspicuous  believed-in  angelic  be- 
ings is  quite  another  matter  when  we  fecall  the  Medo- 
Persian  Ameshaspends  which  were  so  widely  known.  Here 
accidental  coincidence  would  seem  to  be  rigorously  ex- 
cluded by  the  facts  which  I  have  already  instanced  above, 
for  the  existence  of  the  expression  in  close  proximity  to  the 
name  of  a  Gathic  Demon;  see  above,  where  an  Avesta 
city  more  than  once  in  the  same  document,  places  connec- 
tion all  the  more  fully  beyond  dispute.  In  Zechariah  iv. 
10,  "the  Seven  Spirits  which  are  as  the  eyes  of  the  Lord 
and  which  run  to  and  fro  throughout  the  whole  earth," 
not  only  recall  the  Seven  Ameshaspends,  but  their  activity, 
which  is  everywhere  expressed,  or  implied  in  the  Avesta 
as  in  the  later  Zoroastrianism;  see  also  Satan's  answer  to 
God  in  the  Introduction  to  Job,  where  he  says :  "I  am  come 
from  running  to  and  fro  in  all  the  earth" ;  see  it  cited  also 

*  This  is  one  of  the  collections  of  evidence  to  which  I  promised  to  revert, 
entering  into  more  extended  detail. 


1 8  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

elsewhere;  and  we  have  even  the  coincidence  as  to  the 
"eyes  of  the  Lord,"  the  sun  being  the  *'eye  of  Ahura"  in 
Avesta,  as  he  is  the  eye  df  Varuna  in  the  Veda ;  for  though 
the  sun  was  not  an  Ameshaspend,  but  merely  exalted  in  a 
quasi-personification,  yet  our  main  object  here,  as  said 
above,  is  literary  coincidence  or  color  which  may  be  ab- 
solutely without  interior  correspondence  and  yet  com- 
pletely effective  to  show  ''connection."*  In  Rev.  viii.  2,  we 
have  at  once  again  "the  seven  spirits  which  are  before  the 
throne."  Here  the  application  of  the  same  terms  to  the 
seven  representatives  of  the  Seven  Churches  (Rev.  i.  20) 
should  hardly  be  regarded  as  a  serious  objection,  for  these 
later  expressions  were  evidently  taken  over  from  the  ear- 
lier words,  which,  as  we  see,  occur  in  Zechariah  and  Tobit. 
It  would  be  moreover  a  priori  highly  improbable  that  the 
"seven  spirits  of  God  before  His  throne"  should  have  been 
an  idea  finding  its  origin  in  the  fact  that  there  were  seven 
Christian  Bishops  in  Asia  Minor  who  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  inspired  author ;  see  also  below. 

Notice  moreover  the  very  solemn  expression  "the  seven 
spirits  of  God"  in  Rev.  iii.  2  and  7,  which  not  remotely  re- 
calls the  still  profounder  revelations  in  the  Avesta  where 
an  analogous  passage  attributes  the  "six"  spirits  to  Ahura 
as  a  seventh.  This  occurrence  moreover  surpasses  its  Jew- 
ish imitations  in  one  all-important  particular;  for  these 
spirits  were  in  so  far  really  God's  (that  is  to  say,  Ahura's) 
that  they  were  literally  the  fundamental  concepts  not  only 
of  all  religion,  but  of  all  possible  moral  existence,  and  so 
metaphorically  indeed  the  very  "Sons  of  God" ;  see  below 
for  amplification  to  this  point,  being  also  in  a  sense  abso- 
lutely identical  with  Him,  as  the  human  attributes  are 
identical  with  the  human  personal  subjectivity.  As  regards 
Rev.  iv.  5  (cp.  also  Zech.  iv.  2,  10)  I  am  not  aware  that 
the  Zoroastrians  had  exactly  seven  lamps,  or  seven  candle- 

*  Compare  "the  angel  who  took  his  part." 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  I9 

Sticks,  but  the  concept  of  the  seven  spirits  pervaded  the 
ideas  of  the  writers,  while  fire  (see  above)  was  supreme 
as  a  sacrificial  object;  see  also  Rev.  v.  7.  In  8,  the  seven 
angels  are  again  seen  to  stand  before  the  throne  recalling 
Job,  where,  however,  the  number  is  not  mentioned  (see  Rev. 
viii.  6;  xv.  i;  xv.  6;  xvi.  17;  xvii.  11;  xx.  19).  The  same 
deduction  is  everywhere  in  point,  namely  that  while  the 
concepts  with  their  number  ''seven"  are  so  very  Jewish 
and  Christian,  they  only  appeared  suddenly  upon  this  He- 
brew foreign  soil  as  applied  to  particular  personal  spirits, 
whereas  they  were  immemorially  native  to  Medo-Persian 
Zoroastrianism  which  for  centuries  occupied  the  same  ter- 
ritory which  was  both  before  and  later  by  constraint  in- 
vaded by  the  captives.^  A  further  explanation  of  this  cru- 
cial number  seven  should  here  intervene,  and  it  will  afiford 
an  all-important  illustration  as  to  the  asserted  facts  upon 
which  our  entire  procedure  depends.  For,  like  almost  every 
other  particular  of  the  kind,  it  is  not  expected  to  go  upon 
"all  fours."  Even  the  number  itself  wobbles,  the  seven 
being  a  post-Gathic  term,  as  is  indeed  the  word  amesJia, 
(better  aniersha),  meaning  "immortal,"  as  applied  to  the 
Seven ;  and  it,  the  number  seven,  first  of  all  includes  Ahura. 
The  Ameshaspentas  without  Him  are  merely  six,  whereas 
in  one  of  the  most  important  of  all  the  passages,  the  Seven 
are  all  said  to  have  "One  Father,"  Ahura.  But  such  irra- 
tionalities are  universal  in  ancient  religious  literatures. 
The  number  seven  struck  its  impression  deep  upon  the 
Iranian  mind,  having  its  obvious  origin  in  the  number  of 
the  Ameshas  (Immortals)  with  Ahura  included,  and  once 
having  gained  a  footing  it  twisted  their  terminology.  The 
word  seems  later  to  have  meant  the  Holy  Group  entirely 
aside  from  the  actual  accuracy  of  the  figure. 

That  the  names  or  the  personified  ideas  themselves 

*The  places  where  the  Israelitish  captives  were  deposited  and  settled  were 
"Assyria  and  the  Cities  of  the  Medes." 


20  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

were  purposely  selected  by  the  original  authors  to  fit  in 
with  the  already  established  sanctity  of  the  number  is  less 
probable  than  vice  versa,  from  the  facts  already  just  no- 
ticed; there  is  no  idea  of  ''seven"  at  all  in  the  original  doc- 
uments, the  Gathas.  We  might  indeed  surmise  that  an 
originally  prevailing  sanctity  of  such  a  number  among 
the  Irano- Aryan  tribes,  having  returned  more  vividly  to 
the  consciousness  of  the  later  Zoroastrians,  and  also  pos- 
sibly having  found  its  way  in  from  without,  they  may 
then  in  the  later  but  still  genuine  Avesta  have  adopted 
the  term,  fitting  it  into  the  fact  that  the  *'Six"  with  their 
Original,  were  indeed  "Seven";  recall  the  Seven  Karsh- 
vas, — but  the  probabilities  lie  totally  on  the  other  side  of 
it.  The  sanctity  of  the  Six  with  Ahura,  the  Seventh,  or 
as  the  First  of  a  Seven,  was  of  the  most  exalted  and  effec- 
tive character  possible,  affording  among  the  Iranians  at 
least  and  their  descendants  whether  actual  or  merely  in- 
tellectual, an  all-sufficient  reason  for  the  excessive  vene- 
ration for  the  number,  as  usual  on  rational  grounds;  for 
what  reasons  for  the  sanctification  of  any  such  figure  could 
at  all  approach  the  fact  that  it  expressed  the  number  of 
the  accepted,  or  recognized  attributes  of  the  Supreme  De- 
ity ?  And  even  if  the  glimmer  of  the  idea  of  Seven  did  in- 
deed revive  from  an  earlier  Iranian-Indian  origin,  or  even, 
if  it  did  later  creep  in  from  abroad;  yet  even  then  it  was 
obviously,  notoriously,  and  almost  exclusively  appropri- 
ated by  the  unconscious  facts  of  the  Iranian  theological 
situation.  No  one  who  reads  the  Gathas  with  any  recep- 
tive capacity  at  all  could  imagine  that  those  Six  were 
especially  worked  out  to  coincide  with  the  superficial  and 
indeed  artificial  sanctity  of  any  number  elsewhere  super- 
stitiously  adored.  If  that  had  been  the  case  Seven  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  mentioned  in  them,  the  Gathas. 
If  the  number  "seven"  had  any  very  especial  sanctity  in 
the  pre-Gathic  period  that  sanctity  may  have  been  pur- 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  21 

posely  nursed  from  religious  motives,  and  it  may  have 
exerted  a  quiet  influence  even  in  the  Gathic  period,  but  in 
no  degree  such  a  powerful  and  dominant  influence  as  it 
exerted  in  all  subsequent  Iranian  history. 

Nothing  is  more  pressingly  important  to  all  our  con- 
structive conjectures  than  to  recall  this  principle  at  every 
step.  Hardly  an  item,  except  these  first  cited,  presents  a 
mechanically  exact  correspondence.  Another  excellent  ex- 
ample should  be  noted  merely  for  the  sake  of  emphasizing 
our  illustration.  Aramaiti  is  rhetorically  termed  "God's 
daughter"  in  several  places,  and  "His  wife"  in  another. 
So  Mithra  is  almost  His  fellow-God  at  times,  and  yet  His 
creature  at  others.  In  more  than  one  place  Ahura  actually 
sacrifices  to  Mithra  and  others  of  His  sub-deities,  just  as 
a  courteous  sovereign  would  never  formally  address  a 
nobleman  without  using  his  title.  Ancient  Gods  also  uni- 
versally borrow  each  other's  attributes,  and  in  pursuing 
scientific  discriminations  as  to  these  points  the  expert  must 
note  which  god  is  predominant  in  the  possession  of  certain 
characteristics.  Periods  of  transition  also  occur  during 
which  each  leading  god  usurps  or  inherits  the  accredited 
deeds  or  powers  of  the  others;  and  there  are  often  dis- 
tinctly marked  epochs,  where  One  God,  as  represented  by 
his  followers,  seems  almost  to  wrangle  for  an  attribute 
with  a  waning  predecessor.^ 

Periods  of  the  prevailing  ascendency  of  one  God  also 
overlap  upon  those  of  another. 

c.  The  Naming  of  the  Archangels. 

While  such  a  culmination  was  most  possible  as  an 
entirely  independent  Jewish  growth  in  parallel  lines  with 
that  in  the  Zoroastrian  scriptures,  yet  in  presence  of 
the  immemorial  Avestic  and  Vedic  use,  one  at  once 
recognizes  the  influence  of  the  new  Persian  scene.     The 

'  See  Indra  as  he  supplants  his  predecessors  in  R.  V. 


22  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

Jews,  being-  Persian  subjects,  were  perforce  upon  the 
most  intimate  political  terms  with  many  of  the  Persian 
officials,  and  they  co«ld  not  meet  and  converse  relig- 
iously with  any  Persian  -  Babylonian  acquaintance  from 
Media,  without  hearing  at  every  sentence  the  name  of  an 
Archangel,  for  these  fine  believed-in  supernatural  person- 
ages later  gave  the  very  names  to  the  months  and  days,^ 
and  this  usage  may  well  have  begun  at  a  date  which  would 
here  come  in ;  and  they  were  often  used  in  the  course  of  the 
day  in  private  devotion.  Their  names  also  occurred  often 
in  private  proper  names,  the  Greeks  themselves  becoming 
aware  of  them  (see  below).  What  wonder  then  that  they 
began,  though  at  first  quite  unconsciously,  not  only  to  con- 
struct intellectually  their  own  personified  religious  con- 
cepts, and  upon  the  same  model  as  those  of  the  Iranians 
(see  above),  but  to  name  them  as  well,  after  the  same 
fashion  which  was  ever  upon  the  lips  of  their  political  and 
social  allies. 

"The  man  Gabriel  being  caused  to  fly  swiftly,"  etc. 
(Daniel)  may  be  taken  as  a  leading  illustration.  The  few 
Zoroastrian  "Immortals,"  unlike  even  their  first  imitations 
in  Zech.  iv,  dispense  with  the  supernatural  limbs  of  loco- 
motion, and  especially  with  contra-anatomical  growths  for 
aerial  excursion,  but  Gabriel,  "Man  of  God,"  at  once  re- 
calls the  fact  that  Vohumanah  represents  precisely  "the 
man  of  God"  even  in  the  Gathas,  not  etymologically  of 
course ;  and  in  the  Vendidad  he  represents  him  in  a  manner 
so  emphatic  that  there  Vohu  Manah,  as  representing  the 
well-conducted  citizen,  may  even  be  "defiled"  through 
some  impure  physical  contamination  (see  below) ;  and  we 

*  Not  only  were  many  of  the  months  named  after  them  and  their  under- 
lings; but  the  days  of  the  month  as  well.  Everjrthing  rang  with  the  terms, 
so  to  speak,  not  excepting  sometimes  the  proper  names  of  the  most  eminent 
persons;  for  instance  in  such  a  word  as  Artaxerxes  we  have  the  names  of 
two  of  the  immortals,  —  Arta,  which  equalled  Asha,  and  Khshathra;  the 
prayer  hours  of  the  day,  later  five  m  number  involved  the  constant  recalling 
of  the  names. 


ANGELOLOGY   WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  23 

should  not  fail  to  add  that  the  Zoroastrian  angels  have 
also  a  ''flight"  in  descending  to  the  believer,  but  as  ever  in 
the  more  refined  form  of  rhetorical  imagery  rather  than  in 
that  of  muscular  delineation.^   So  when  the  leading  priests 
in  Persian   Babylon  began  to  think  out  for   themselves 
Archangelic  personages  they  would  naturally  give  some 
such  names  as  we  have  recorded ;  and  so  Michael  "who  like 
God?"  appeared.     We  have  noticed  Gabriel  as  recalling 
Vohuman ;  but  he  also  recalls  the  exploits  of  many  an  Ira- 
nian Angel,  Sraosha  in  particular,  though  he,  Sraosha, 
was  certainly  not  at  first  recognized  as  an  Amesha,  yet  he 
succeeded  in  pushing  some  of  these  leading  forms  aside  in 
his  progress  as  a  defender.     So  in  Revelations  there  was 
*'war"  in  heaven  and  Michael  the  Prince  contended  with 
the  Devil  in  Jude,   just  as   Sraosha  pre-eminently  van- 
quished Angra-Mainyus.    But  we  must  not  go  further  be- 
fore we  recall  and  further  explain  the  incisive  circumstance 
that  the  Zoroastrian  names  diifer  radically  and  transcend 
immensely  the  Biblical  ones  in  an  all-important  particular, 
already  touched  upon  above,  for  whereas  the  Jewish  ex- 
pressions depict  with  color  fine  poetical  images,  the  Zoro- 
astrian terms  express  the  first  internal  elements  of  the 
mental  universe;  see  above  and  in  the  following  remarks. 
Vohu  manah,  while  used  for  the  "orthodox  saint,"  means 
distinctly  bona  mens;  they  may  be  the  same  words  indeed 
in  another  form ;  manah  is  of  course  mens.    Asha  is  "the 
law,"  the  "idea  of  consecutive  order,"  the  "truth  pre-emi- 
nent" in  every  germ;  Khshathra,  the  sovereign  power, 
comes  in  also  as  if  with  conscious  logic;  compare  both  the 
Gathic  and  the  Lord's  prayer  f  in  the  first  we  have  "Thine 
is  the  kingdom,"  as  in  the  last,  with  no  very  probable  im- 
mediate literary  connection ;  it  is  the  idea  of  sacred  author- 
itative force;  Aramaiti  is  the  psychic  energy  of  purpose, 

•  Yt.  xiii.  84,  84. 

•  See  Yasna  LTII,  7 :  "For  'thine  is  the  kingdom'  through  which  Thou  wilt 
give to  the  right-hving  poor." 


24  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

"the  toiling  Mind,"^  while  Haurvatat  is  the  completeness 
of  Deity,  conferring  full  weal  and  chiefly  health  upon  His 
"good"  creatures,  and  Ameretatat  is  literally  "immortal- 
ity," the  two  forms  of  exactly  the  same  word.  As  approach- 
ing this  we  have  such  expressions  as  "The  Amen" ;  see  the 
Asha  =  Truth.  Descending  to  the  minor  concepts;  see 
above  my  allusions  to  "Hvarenah,"  etc.  In  addition  to 
this  we  may  recall  the  fact  that  Raphael,  one  of  the  Jewish 
Archangels,  is  actually  declared  to  be  "One  of  the  Seven 
Spirits"  in  the  Tale  of  Tobit  which  almost  centers  about 
the  chief  Zoroastrian  city  Ragha. 

d.  Iranian  Names  Suggested  Where  Neither  They 
Nor  Any  Semitic  Equivalents  Actually  Appear. 

While  Michael  and  Gabriel  are  in  evidence  on  the  Sem- 
itic side  and  "God  of  Heaven"  has  been  cited  as  possibly  an 
Aryan  element  amidst  the  throng  of  Semitic  terms,  we  may 
proceed  to  notice  such  an  expression  as  that  in  Daniel  ii.  1 1, 
"whose  dwellings  are  not  in  the  flesh."  This  would  be  an 
advance  upon  earlier  concepts  where  the  bodily  figure  of 
Yahveh  Elohim  is  plainly  referred  to ;  and  these  finer  ideas 
arose  under  the  stimulus  of  the  Exile,  anthropomorphic 
modes  of  thought  having  been  much  shaken  ofif,  not  neces- 
sarily at  all  in  imitation  of  Persian  modes  of  expression. 
For  even  in  the  Gathas,  a  vision  of  Ahura  is  sought  for, 
though  a  vision  of  Ahura  as  manifested  in  a  bodily  form 
would  indeed  introduce  an  element  into  the  Gathas  directly 
in  conflict  with  one  of  its  leading  distinctions,  that  between 
the  "bodily"  and  the  "mental"  worlds.  In  the  later  Yasna, 
however,  we  have  His  "Body,"  though  everything  points 
to  a  merely  rhetorical  (xx.  2)  usage  here  as  in  the  post- 
Avestic  Zoroastrianism,  though  I  do  not  feel  that  the  post- 
Gathic  Zoroastrians  would  have  objected  much  to  God's 
body,  if  they  could  only  have  managed  the  idea  of  it ;  and  it 

^  T  refer  ar  to  ar  =  "to  plough"  cp.  aratrum. 


ANGELOLOGY   WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  2$ 

would  have  been  easy  enough  to  add  the  adjective  "spirit- 
ual" before  such  a  noun  as  "body."  A  "God  of  Gods" 
(Daniel  ii.  47)  recalls  again  the  inscriptional  turn  of  words 
''King  of  Kings"  and  also  its  actual  sentence  "greatest  of 
all  the  Gods,"  the  Creator  both  of  the  Immortals  and  of 
Mithra ;  see  below.  Strangely  enough  Adar,  the  angel  of 
fire,  is  most  significantly  indicated  in  Daniel  iii.  25:  "The 
fourth  figure  walking  in  the  super-heated  furnace  is  like 
unto  a  son  of  the  gods."  But  "Son  of  God,"  i.  e.,  of  Ahura, 
was  precisely  a  most  noted  and  ever  iterated  title  of  the 
fire,  as  somewhat  dimly  personified  in  the  later  but  still 
genuine  Avesta.  The  spirit  of  the  Holy  Gods,  in  Daniel 
iv.  9,  recalls  again  the  Spenishta  Mainyu,  the  most  Holy 
Spirit,  so  the  most;  I  prefer,  the  "most  August  Spirit." 
In  the  Avesta  this  "most  August  Spirit"  is  a  curious 
growth  out  of  the  concept  Ahura,  much  like  that  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  Exilic  Scriptures.  It  seems  to  be  a  sort 
of  attribute  at  first ;  and  then  perhaps  it  edged  its  way  into 
personification,  as  so  often  with  similar  ideas.  The 
"watcher  and  the  Holy  One"  of  Daniel  iv.  13  suggest 
Sraosha  who  "never  slept  since  the  two  Spirits  made  the 
worlds;  three  times  of  the  night  and  day"  he  attacks  the 
enemy  and  defends  the  souls  of  the  faithful.  The  "coming 
down  from  Heaven"  (same  verse)  suggests  the  Six  in 
Yasht  XIII,  where  we  have,  "shining  are  their  paths  as 
they  come  down  to  the  faithful."  In  Daniel  iv.  17,  the 
demands  "by  the  words  of  the  Holy  Ones"  again  suggest 
the  Seven ;  they  all,  constructively,  watch  and  speak ;  and 
see  "the  Spirit  of  the  Holy  Gods"  again  with  "Spenishta 
Mainyu"  as  its  counterpart. 

The  reader  has  long  since,  let  us  hope,  fully  seen  the 
pointing  of  our  procedure.  While  hardly  a  single  in- 
stance here  cited  shows  any  absolutely  certain  immediate 
and  definite  external  literary  connection  with  Avesta,  yet 
the  duty  continually  grows  upon  us  to  gather  up  not  only 


26  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

the  more  prominent  evidences  of  interior  connection  aris- 
ing from  parallel  development,  but  the  entire  mass  of 
them;  for  they  undoubtedly  accumulate  force  if  only  slowly, 
and  they  build  up  a  structure  of  comparative  theological 
doctrine  which  demands  a  universal  recognition;  and  as 
it  gains  a  hearing,  it  gradually  but  surely  substantiates 
the  Zoroastrian-Israelitish  historical  connection  as  well. 
To  resume — see  "the  watchers"  like  Sraosha  again  at 
Daniel  iv.  23.  The  talk  of  "the  kingdoms"  is  again  orig- 
inal, and  yet  it  again  suggests  Avesta  Khshathra;  see  by 
anticipation  the  "care  of  the  poor"^  (iv.  2^)  cited  from  the 
Gathas  above  and  below.  This  idea  occurs  more  than  once 
in  the  Gathas  and  also  in  the  Ahuna  Vairya.  The  "most 
high  ruling"  suggests  "Ahura  as  king."  See  the  "Spirit 
of  the  Holy  Gods"  still  once  more  again  in  Daniel  iv.  34. 
In  V.  20  "the  Glory  taken  away"  from  the  monarch,  sug- 
gests the  Hvarenah  of  the  Kavis  as  elsewhere.  This  latter, 
however,  eluded  seizure;  see  the  Yashts.  The  word  Sa- 
traps^ of  vi.  7  is  pure  Persian  of  course ;  cp.  khshathrapa- 
van,  though  the  Archangel  Khshathra  was  not  here  at  all 
directly  thought  of. 

The  "Living  God"  (vi.  26)  again  suggests  the  same 
thoughts  which  originally  determined  the  word  Ahura; 
see  above.  See  also  "The  Ancient  of  Days"  again,  which, 
aside  from  that  most  significant  expression  "in  Boundless 
Time"^^  recalls  Ahura  as  he  who  is  "the  same  at  every 
now"  ;  recall  "the  same,  yesterday,  to-day  and  for  ever."^^ 
All  the  expressions  in  vii.  14  recall  the  Spirit  of  the  new 
Persian  -  Babylonian  religious  thought,  "indestructible 
kingdom"  being  also  familiar  to  both.  Most  curiously  both 

'The  "care  of  the  poor"  was  a  marked  Gathic  idea;  and  in  spite  of  a 
despotic  government,  if  not  in  consequence  of  it,  the  "poor"  seem  always  to 
have  had  some  special  privileges  in  Persia  as  against  the  aristocracy. 

"Darius's  father  was  one  of  his  son's  Satraps. 

"  Recall  the  Greek  Chronos. 

"  See  above  where  "Boundless  Time"  itself  became  a  deity  and  a  creator. 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  2/ 

the  ram  and  the  he-goat  of  8,  appear  in  the  Yasht  to  Vic- 
tory, a  brilliant  Avesta  piece,  and  likewise  in  the  same 
order,  with  the  ram  first.  Notice  Gabriel's,  "the  man's 
voice,"  of  viii.  i6,  the  Prince  of  Princes  of  viii.  25  which 
ought  always  to  suggest  Vohu  Manah,  while  Asha,  who 
secured  the  first  place  among  the  Archangels,  was  later, 
as  already  stated,  rudely  pushed  off  the  stage  of  action 
by  Sraosha  who  is  also  elsewhere  metaphorically  aggres- 
sive. "Righteousness  belongeth  unto  Thee,"  originally 
arose  from  the  same  impulsive  convictions  which  attrib- 
uted Asha,  the  Holy  Legal  Truth,  to  Ahura.  So  Vohu- 
manah  was  really  "mercy" ;  see  ix.  9.  In  ix.  10,  "not  obey- 
ing" arose  from  the  same  psychic  forces  which  evoked  the 
condemnation  of  ascroasha,  non-obedience  in  Y,  LX,  9,  11. 
There  was  also  a  "curse"  almost  personified  in  Avesta. 
"The  Lord  watching  over  evil"  (ix.  14)  recalls  Isaiah 
xiv.  7,  in  contradiction  to  the  implication  that  God  did  not 
create  sin,  while,  on  the  contrary,  Ahura  was  thus  limited. 
See  again  "all  the  Righteousness  of  God,"  (ix.  16),  recall- 
ing the  Asha  of  Ahura. 

"Hearken,  hear,  and  incline  Thine  ear,"  (ix.  18),  are 
emphatic  and  iterated  Gathic  ideas  and  words,  and  the  first 
conception  of  Sraosha  is  "God's  ear."  So  are  "hear  and 
forgive"  ;*  so  also  "bringing  in  everlasting  righteousness" 
(Daniel  ix.  24)  is  very  Avestic  as  the  first  essential  idea 
of  Frashakart^^  without  which  the  supernatural  beatifica- 
tions comprised  within  that  engaging  hope  would  be  of  no 
effect;  cp.  "no  envy  Demon-made."  Daniel  x:  the  Yashts 
are  full  of  "war"^^  as  are  indeed  the  Gathas,  these  last 
have  however  no  pictorial  personifications  to  correspond. 
I  cannot  say  what  Aryan  angel  is  suggested  by  "the  man 
clothed  in  linen,"  though  as  already  said,  Vohumanah, 

*Y.  XXXII,  II. 

"  Millennial  Perfection  . 

"  Cp.  Yt.  XIX,  I,  where  Ahura  himself  takes  part. 


28  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

representing  "man,"  recalls  Gabriel.  In  x.  ii,  "He  comes" 
like  Vohuman,  so  repeatedly  in  Y.  XLIII ;  see  x.  i8,  the 
same  motives  inducing  both  descriptive  manifestations.  In 
xi.  2  the  "truth"  is  again  Asha. 

In  xi.  i6  "doing  according  to  His  will"  emphatically 
recalls  the  very  characteristic  and  repeated  expression  of 
Avesta,  "using  power  according  to  His  will" ;  see  also  the 
vasiy^'^  of  the  Inscription ;  see  also  Khshathra  again  as  the 
"Divine  Rule"  (xi.  17).  I  do  not  know  what  to  suggest 
with  regard  to  the  other  two  angels  of  Daniel  xii.  5. 

e.  Unnamed  Semitic  Angels  With  Aryan  Analogies. 

The  Angel  in  Rev.  i  who  leads  and  conducts  the  nar- 
rator was  suggested  by  the  same  idea  as  determined  Sra- 
osha  to  a  similar  office  in  the  Book  of  the  Arta-i-Viraf  of 
the  later  Zoroastrianism ;  see  also  Y.  XXVIII,  5,  of  the 
Gathas;  so  "in  the  spirit"  (Rev.  i.  10)  is  very  Zoroastrian, 
though  not  exactly  in  the  pointed  sense.  Arta-i-Viraf, 
however,  was  "in  the  spirit"  much  after  the  fashion  of  St. 
John,  though  in  his  case  (Arta-i-Virafs)  this  took  place 
with  the  assistance  of  a  drug.  There  is  also  a  prominent 
book  called  the  "Spirit  of  Wisdom." 

"Writing  in  a  book"  reminds  us  that  Zoroastrianism  with 
Judaism  was  one  of  the  very  few  prominent  book-religions. 
The  Son  of  Man  again,  as  in  Daniel,  recalls  Vohuman  who 
represented  "man."^^  In  Rev.  i.  16,  the  "sword  from  the 
mouth"  suggests  the  weapon  of  Sraosha  which  was  em- 
phatically "the  Word  of  God,"  the  Honover  of  Avesta. ^^ 
In  Rev.  i.  17,  "the  first  and  the  last"  sounds  like  a  keynote 
of  the  Avesta,  though  there  the  Devil  shared  this  primor- 
dial eternal  existence.  There  were  "two  first  spirits" :  see 
also  the  word  ap(a)ourvyam,  "having  no  first";  that  is  to 

"  Meaning  "at  will,"  "with  complete  sway." 

"  See  above. 

"  See  Yasna  XIX. 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  29 

say,  "having  none  before  it,"  which  qualifies  the  superex- 
cellence  of  the  chants;  see  below  on  the  "new  song."  Yet 
some  expositors  might  well  apply  the  term  grammatically 
to  Mazda  Ahura.  In  Rev.  i.  i8  the  "Living  One"  again 
recalls  Ahu-ra;  see  above,  here,  however,  apparently  re- 
ferring to  the  risen  Jesus,  whereas  in  Daniel  the  Deity  is 

held  in  view. 

The  description  of  the  seven  stars  as  the  "seven  angels 
of  the  seven  churches  (Rev.  i.  20)  by  no  means  annihilates,, 
but  rather  on  the  contrary  assists  our  contention  as  to  the 
analogies.    The  idea  and  the  words  as  already  stated,  were 
taken  over  from  the  seven  angels  before  "the  throne."  The 
reversed  direction  would  be  quaint  indeed.^'     The  human 
Angels  were  addressed  m  the  terms  of  common  parlance. 
"I  know  thy  works"  (ii.  2)  expresses  the  essence  of  Zoro- 
astrian  judgment ;  see  the  first  strophe  of  the  Gathas.    The 
"tree  of  life"  (ii.  7)   reminds  one  of  Ameretatat,  which 
represented  both  never  dying  life,  and  later  the  vegetable 
kingdom  which  supported  it,  whereas  in  Genesis  it  recalls 
the  vine  with  its  supposed  supernatural  excitations,  for 
which  compare  the  H5m  Yasht  which  celebrates  the  same 
sacred  influence,  "he  that  hath  an  ear  to  hear"  (ii.  H) 
is  again  so  significant  in  the  Avesta  that  it  has  an  espe- 
cial angel,  Sraosha,  to  represent  it;   see  also  the  Yasna, 
where  "Hear  ye  these  things  with  the  ears,"  twice  intro- 
duces the  most  solemn  and  far-reaching  of  all  the  doc- 
trines.   He  who  was  dead  and  is  alive  again"  (Rev.  ii.  8), 
recalls  the  realization  of  the  ideas  which  lurk  in  Amere- 
tatat and  are  expressed  fully  elsewhere;  see  below.    The 
intervention  of  the  Satanic  opposition  (ii.  9)  is  everywhere 
marked  in  Zoroastrianism,  where  it  was  first  recognized; 
but  the  details  of  the  Semitic  allusions  are  here  the  most 
pointed. 

'*  As  if  the  idea  of  "the  seven  spirits  of  God"  was  derived  from  the  idea 
of  the  seven  Bishops. 


30  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

Periods  of  trial  (ii.  lo)  are  familiar  throughout  Zoro- 
astrianism,  and  the  keynote  of  all  is  final  victory,  certainly 
at  least  for  the  elect.  "The  crown  of  life"  (ii.  lo)  is  far 
more  poetical  than  the  mere  immortality  of  the  Avesta, 
though  victory  abounds  in  the  latter.  Satan's  throne  (ii. 
13)  is  not  positively  an  Avestic  expression;  but  the  coun- 
terparts to  Vendidad  XIX,  32  (105),  and  Yasht  XXII, 
have  been  lost;  there  "evil"  thrones  are  due  to  offset  the 
holier  ones.  We  are  also  reminded  of  the  top  of  Arezura, 
V.  XIX.  45  (w)  where  the  choice  of  spirits  of  the  infernal 
world  converge,  doubtless  under  the  presidency  of  their 
chief.  In  Rev.  ii.  13,  "Satan's  dwelling"  recalls  strikingly 
the  abode  of  the  Druj,  Y.  XLVI,  XLIX,  the  Devil's  eldest 
daughter,  almost  himself.  Idol- worship  (ii.  14)  is  one  of 
the  chief  things  condemned  at  the  judgment  of  the  Zoroas- 
trians.  In  ii.  17,  the  "Spirit"  recalls  again  the  "most  Holy," 
or  "August  Spirit"  of  the  Gathas  exactly  in  analogy  with 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  with 
no  immediate  literary  connection.  The  hidden  manna, 
(Rev.  ii.  17)  also  somewhat  dimly  recalls  the  immortal 
food  of  the  Zoroastrian  "Heaven,"  the  Holy  Oil  of  the 
beatified.  "The  Son  of  God,"  who  has  "eyes  like  a  flame 
of  fire"  and  feet  like  "burnished"  and  so  "fiery  brass" 
again  recalls  our  Adar  also  represented  in  Avesta  under 
the  rhetorical  image  of  personification.  And  we  notice 
once  again  that  the  fire  was  "God's  son,"  the  expression 
often  occurring.  Rev.  ii.  19,  again  recalls  the  first  verse 
of  the  Gatha,  "all  works  done  with  Asha."  Both  Zoro- 
astrianism  and  Rev.  ii.  20  are  severe  upon  the  harlot.  In 
ii.  23,  one  "which  searcheth  the  heart"  recalls  "on  all 
with  the  truth  (i.  e.,  searchingly)  Thou  art  gazing."  The 
"Son  of  God"  as  "benevolent"  sympathy  (Rev.  ii.  19)  re- 
calls the  noted  expression  in  the  Gathas,  "with  Asha  in 
sympathy,"  as  also  that  which  reports  "the  love  of  Ahura 
Mazda."  "The  depths  of  Satan"  (ii.  24)  recall  the  "things 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  3 1 

hidden"  of  Yasna  XXXL  "Behold  I  come  quickly"  (Rev. 
ii.  16)  recalls  the  Gathic  expression  "swift  be  it"  (the  is- 
sue) as  addressed  to  Ahura.  Here  we  have  as  so  often  no 
immediate  literary  connection,  but  the  two  ideas  were  de- 
termined by  the  same  psychological  moment. 

Vohumanah  distinctly  recalls  the  "beginning  of  the 
creation  of  God"  (iii.  14)  as  he  was  supposed  to  be  the 
"first^^  made  of  every  creature,"  not,  however,  an  Avestic 
expression.  See  the  "Amen"  again  for  Asha  in  a  most 
solemn  and  heart-touching  sense  from  interior  parallel  de- 
velopment. 

"He  that  overcometh"  (Rev.  iii.  21)  is  again  very  Zor- 
oastrian  of  "Victory."  In  iii.  21,  the  sitting  upon  the 
throne  again  recalls  the  scene  in  the  Vendidad.  The  four 
and  twenty  elders  on  thrones  (iv.  4)  or  round  about  the 
throne  are  exactly  the  Immortals  in  Vendidad  though  the 
number  there  in  V.  is  but  a  fourth  of  them;  see  below. 
Vohu  Manah  seems  to  sit  down,  if  not  with  Ahura  on  His 
throne,  V.  XIX,  132  ( 105),  yet  upon  a  throne  in  His  near 
vicinity ;  recall  where  the  Son  of  Man  sits  upon  the  throne 
of  His  Glory  (Vohu  Manah  also  representing  the  religious 
man  in  Avesta,  as  to  which  see  below) ;  the  Deity  also 
presumably  presided.  So  the  seven  lamps  of  fire,  (4,  5) 
have  been  already  mentioned  as  a  manifestation  of  the 
angel  Atar  (Adar).  In  iv.  6  the  living  creature  full  of 
eyes  seems  distinctly  motived  by  Mithra  with  his  1000 
eyes  (see  also  Ezekiel).  The  especial  homage  to  God  as 
"the  Creator"  (iv.  11)  is  perhaps  more  constantly  present 
in  Zoroastrianism  than  in  any  other  lore  (see  also  the  In- 
scriptions). "Glory"  in  iv.  11  again  recalls  Hvarenah  and 
its  angel;  see  Power  equalling  Khshathra  again.  "Be- 
cause of  thy  will"  (iv.  11)  is  again  very  Avestic  and  in- 
scriptional   both   as  applied   to  Ahura    and    His    saints. 

"Vohumanah  worked  his  way  to  the  fore  on  account  of  his  meaning 
which  was  "Benevolence." 


32  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

"Power"  is  again  Khshathra  (v.  12).  "Riches"  is  Ashi 
Vanguhi;  "wisdom"  may  be  Aramaiti;  "glory"  again  is 
Hvarenah.  The  "white  horse"  of  vi.  2  is  a  striking  symbol 
in  the  Yasht  to  victory;  see  also  "conquering  and  to  con- 
quer." The  "bow"  was  pre-eminently  the  Persian  weapon, 
baffling  the  Romans  in  many  an  encounter/^  the  "horse 
that  was  red"  (vi.  4)  recalls  again  the  Avesta  with  the 
varying  color;  and  so  the  "black  horse"  (vi.  5),  all  pre- 
sumably in  the  sky,  or  on  some  conspicuous  elevation.  The 
angel  of  the  Abyss  (ix.  11)  is  Angra  Mainyu,  or  his  agent, 
("face  downward  are  the  D(a)evas").  Recall  Ezek.  viii. 
16  and  the  "twenty-five  men  with  their  backs  to  the  temple 
as  they  worshiped  the  sun,"  pure  Zoroastrianism,  or  the 
like.  The  "beast  coming  up  out  of  the  abyss,"  (Rev.  xi.  7) 
recalls  again  the  demon  Angra  Mainyu,  who  among  his 
myrmidons  certainly  fled  to  Hell,  which  was  situated  in  a 
downward  direction;  see  in  Vendidad;  see  also  Arta-i- 
Viraf.  "After  three  days  and  a  half"  (xi.  9)  vividly  re- 
calls the  idea  of  the  period  during  which  the  soul  lingers 
around  the  body  in  Yasht,  XXII;  see  also  the  approxi- 
mately similar  borrowed  Muhammedan  belief.  (It  would 
seem  to  be  profane  to  mention  the  "three  days"  of  the 
Gospels.) 

Passing  over  much  interesting  and  apposite  detail  we 
have  in  Rev.  xii.  7  the  "war  in  Heaven,"  elsewhere  also 
often  mentioned,  which  precisely  in  this  connection  recalls 
the  war  of  Apaosha  in  the  Yasht,  whose  enemy  was  then  as 
now  well  thought  to  be  drought,  the  great  enemy  of  man 
in  torrid  climates ;  this  point  in  Avesta  is  again  rational. 

"The  Deceiver  of  the  world"  (xii.  9)  is  beyond  all 
doubt  a  Zoroastrian  idea  of  the  Devil,  whose  central  prod- 
uct was  the  Lie-Druj  (female  demon).  "The  kingdom 
of  our  God"  (xii.  10)  recalls  again  of  course  "Thine  is  the 

"The  supply  of  arrows  was  furnished  in  camel  loads  and  almost  inex- 
haustible. 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  33 

kingdom"  in  the  Gatha ;  the  expression  of  Royal  authority 
par  eminence,  is  Khshathra.  This  "Reign  of  God"  is 
again  pre-eminently  Khshathra  who  was  Ahura's  attri- 
bute: "the  temple  of  God  which  is  in  heaven"  (xi.  19)  re- 
calls the  same  idea  of  celestial  supernatural  architecture 
in  Avesta.  The  dragon  of  seven  heads  is,  of  course,  the 
Azhi  Dahaka  of  Avesta,  the  Ahi  of  the  Veda,  which  both 
had  six  heads,  the  six  being  changed  to  seven  in  Revela- 
tion on  account  of  the  dominant  influence  of  that  number 
with  possible  reference  to  the  Seven  Hills  of  Rome. 

Like  the  Vedic  Ahi,  he  kept  off  the  rain.^"  "The  Devil 
having  great  wrath"  (xii.  12)  vividly  reminds  us  of 
Aeshma,  the  demon  of  the  Raid  Fury,  again  quite  a  rational 
concept.  There  was  also  "an  eagle"  in  the  Avesta  in  the 
Yasht  (xii.  14).  The  "worship  of  the  dragon"  (xiii.  4) 
was  literally  again  suggested  by  that  of  the  great  rational 
Azhi  Dahaka  (see  also  the  Veda)  who  showed  his  claim  to 
be  the  greatest  of  the  devils,  coiling  his  folds  about  the  rain 
clouds,  the  dripping  cows  of  heaven.  The  "angel  with  the 
eternal  Gospel"  (xiv.  7)  is  the  Sraosha  with  the  Manthra; 
so  only  in  strongest  analogy,  of  course. 

In  xiv.  18,  the  angel  who  had  power  over  fire  is  again 
distinctly  an  Atar  whether  directly  and  immediately  so 
suggested,  or  by  parallel  development.  In  xv.  3,  the  "King 
of  the  Ages"  again  recalls  Zrvana  akarana.  "Boundless 
Time,"  which  became  a  Deity ;  see  the  sect  of  the  Zervan- 
ites  already  more  than  once  noticed. 

At  xvi.  3,  the  angel  that  poured  into  the  sea  recalls  the 
Gospatshah  of  the  Mainyu-i-Khard.  In  xvi.  13,  the  "un- 
clean spirits  like  frogs"  strikingly  recall  the  fact  that  the 
frog  was  perhaps  the  most  prominent  among  unclean 
beasts  in  Avesta.    And  let  me  also  say  here  in  passing  that 

**  Notice  in  passing  what  I  must  refer  to  later  on,  which  is  the  constant 
rationalism  of  the  Avesta-Vedic  concepts  as  against  the  Babylonian-Israelitish. 
One  of  the  most  marvelous  of  literary  circumstances  is  that  all  the  gods,  or 
most  of  them,  have  meaning  in  Avesta,  as  in  Veda  and  for  the  most  part  ab- 
stract meaning. 


34  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

the  Avesta  alone  affords  rational  explanation  of  the  dis- 
tinction between  clean  and  unclean,  from  the  fact  that  the 
Devil  made  the  latter.  Many  animals  (like  indeed  the 
very  ones  here  in  question,  the  frogs)  were  quite  harm- 
less except  as  regards  some  nocturnal  voicings,  and  even 
used  as  choice  food  in  some  localities ;  but  they  were  ostra- 
cized from  the  ''pure  creation,"  and  solely  because  their 
creator  was  the  Iranian  Satan. 

Notice  again  the  "Lord  of  Lords  and  King  of  Kings" 
(xvii.  14).  The  "angel  having  great  authority"  (xviii.  l) 
is  again  a  fine  Khshathra,  Ahura's  Sovereign  Power.  The 
angel  "with  the  great  mill-stone"  recalls  the  mythical  Zor- 
oaster who  assaults  the  enemy  with  an  enormous  piece  of 
rock,  "large  as  a  cottage,"  so  some  render.  The  Amen 
(xix.  4)  is  again  always  a  good  Asha,  Ahura's  "Law  and 
Truth."  In  xix.  6,  we  have  Ahura  reigning,  in  7,  again 
the  glory,  Hvarenah.  The  "marriage  of  the  Lamb"  (xix. 
9)  recalls  the  figurative  concept  of  the  "wives  of  God,"  and 
again,  the  sacred  feast  of  the  Zoroastrian  heaven.  In  xix. 
II,  we  have  a  rare  bit  of  Zoroastrian  drawing.  The  "white 
horse"  once  more  immediately  suggests  again  the  "white 
steed"  of  the  Yasht  to  victory;  see  also  the  four-span  white 
horses  of  Sraosha.  The  "faithful  and  true"  one  recalls  the 
old  Persian  ideal  (see  Herodotus) ;  it  had  its  root  in  Asha. 
The  "word  of  God"  is  again  the  Honover  which  was  "before 
the  world,"  and  "the  sword  by  which  His  angel  slays"  the 
Devil,  so  Zoroaster  repels  him  in  his  "temptation"  with  it. 
The  name  upon  his  thigh  is  again  our  Aryan  "King  of 
Kings"  of  the  Inscriptions,  here  fitting  in  especially  because 
not  applied  to  the  Supreme  Deity,  as  indeed  also  once  in 
Daniel  where  as  in  the  Persian  Inscription  it  refers  to  a 
human  potentate.  In  xix  17,  we  have  the  Hvare  Rhsh(a)- 
eta  as  the  shining  sun  once  more ;  recall  again  Ezekiel  viii. 
16,  with  "the  five  and  twenty  who,  turning  their  backs  to 
the  temple,  worshiped  the  sun."     The  Ezekiel  passages 


ANGELOLOGY    WITH    DEMONOLOGY.  35 

cannot  be  called  pre-Exilic,  nor,  if  they  were  genuinely  of 
his  date,  can  they  be  said  to  rank  the  Daric  Inscriptions, 
which  were  supposed  to  be  somewhat  later;  for,  while  it 
is  absolutely  certain  that  the  allusion  to  the  sun-worshipers 
was  motived  by  foreign  influence  upon  the  Jews,  the  ex- 
pressions upon  the  Inscriptions  as  positively  prove  that 
they  had  long  pre-existing  native  predecessors;  or  that 
they  were  even  stereotyped  formulas;  see  whole  sentences 
mathematically  repeated  in  the  Inscriptions  on  Behistan 
and  on  those  elsewhere  which  were  later  than  Darius. 
This  proves  almost  conclusively  that  Darius's  terms  were 
formulas  long  since  used  also  by  his  predecessors  as  well, 
so  that  an  inscriptional  expression  necessarily  implies  an 
earlier  original  in  Iran;  but  the  same  argument  does  not 
hold  with  regard  to  the  terms  in  Ezekiel  to  prove  a  prior 
Israelitish  origin,  because  these  latter  were  distinctly  of 
foreign  origin.  We  can  not  say  in  regard  to  those  of 
Israel,  as  we  can  say  of  those  of  Behistan,  that  these  ideas 
in  Ezekiel  must  have  had  predecessors  in  Israel.  For  it 
seems  to  be  distinctly  acknowledged  by  all  fair-minded  and 
capable  persons  that  the  general  cast  of  ideas  as  regards 
the  eschatology  and  its  kindred  points  existing  in  the  time 
of  the  Exile  and  subsequently  to  it,  was  strikingly  diflferent 
from  the  tone  of  thought  upon  these  subjects  in  the 
earlier  Biblical  literature.  "Satan  being  bound  a  thou- 
sand years"  (xx.  3,  5)  rests  broadly  upon  Zoroastrian 
Chiliasm;  see  Plutarch's  account  of  it;  see  also  the  later 
Bundahesh  which  is  a  pure  development  from  the  earliest 
documents;  see  also  below.  The  expression  "a  thousand 
years"  occurs  more  than  three  times  in  the  Avesta  itself, 
and  all  the  other  features  are  likewise  marked  in  it.  Re- 
call also  the  expressions  cited  by  Plutarch  from  Theo- 
pompus(  ?). 

The  "Throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb"  (xxii.  i)  again 
recalls  Ahura's  throne  with  Vohu  Manah.    The  angel  sent 


36  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

to  show  the  revelation  (xxii.  8)  again  recalls  Sraosha  both 
in  Yasna  XXVIII  and  in  the  Arta-i-Viraf.     "The  pure 
river  of  the  water  of  life"  (xxii.  i)  makes  us  think  at  once 
of  Ardvi  siira  Anahita,  "the  river  lofty,  heroic,  (i.  e.,  effec- 
tive), and  the  spotless  which  purified  all  seed,  and  all 
generative  production ;"  see  also  the  other  holy  waters  so 
constantly  in  evidence.    Without  laying  the  smallest  stress 
upon  any  possible  or  probable  immediate  literary  connec- 
tion showing  the  influence  of  the  Avesta  in  the  above  par- 
ticulars cited  from  Ezekiel,  Zechariah,  Daniel    and    the 
Apocalypse,  it  is  yet  difficult  to  resist  the  conviction  frotn 
the  whole  of  them,  that  they  conjointly  indicate  the  intellec- 
tual and  esthetic  world  in  which  the  Exilic  and  post-Exilic 
Jews  and  Jewish  Christians  lived ;  and  that  this  was  domi- 
nated by  the  scenes  and  associations  of  the  Perso-Baby- 
lonian  Exile.    But  the  Perso-Babylonian  intellectual  world 
was  interpenetrated  with.the  same  type  of  conception  and 
imagery  which  previously,  or  simultaneously,  prevailed  in 
the  Median  Zoroastrianism  and  in  the  religion  of  the  Daric 
Achsemenian  inscriptions;  and  the  "captive  exiles"   are 
twice  pointedly  said  to  have  been  re-settled  in  the  "Cities 
of  the  Medes"  as  well  as  in  Assyria.    If  this  were  the  case 
the  priests  of  the  people  were  in  almost  daily  contact  with 
highly  ritualistic  Zoroastrians  or  pre-Zoroastrians,  if  I 
might  so  express  myself,  Zoroastrianism  being  of  course 
only  a  culmination.    Even  had  they  never  met  the  Median 
priests,  which  is  well-nigh  impossible,  the  main  tenets  of 
Zoroastrianism  were  daily  forced  upon  their  notice  through 
the  laity,  who  had  later  five  periods  in  the  day  for  reciting 
prayers,  and  may  have  had  them  earlier.    Here  then  was 
"contact"  and  in  pre-eminence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CONCEPT  OF  ETERNITY   IN  GENERAL. 

THIS  is  now  a  convenient  place  for  us  to  pause  and  re- 
call the  main  Jewish  Exilic  and  the  Zoroastrian  con- 
cepts of  eternity  in  general,  more  closely  considering  them 
as  applied  to  the  supposed  existence  of  the  supernatural  be- 
ings above  discussed.  As  we  have  already  conceded,  the 
pre-Exilic  concepts  of  futurity  were  extremely  indistinct, 
but  under  the  general  inspiration  of  the  Exile  the  other  life 
began  to  take  on  its  now  familiar  marked  characteristics; 
see  above.    This  has  been  our  result  so  far. 

Prominent  among  the  expressions  used  would  be  "for 
ever  and  ever" ;  see  Daniel  ii.  4 ;  ii.  44 ;  the  New  Testament 
needs  not  to  be  cited.  So  that  we  have  before  us  an  en- 
tirely fresh  Dogmatik  as  to  this  particular  in  their  Exilic 
and  post-Exilic  documents. 

But  in  the  Avesta  we  have  an  "endless  futurity"  from 
the  remotest  inception  of  the  lore  and  we  have  also  in  it, 
as  we  may  well  claim,  the  earliest  expression  of  the  idea 
in  a  refined  literature  and  outside  of  barbaric  assertions  of 
it.  This  occurs  in  the  oldest  Avesta  in  such  terms  as 
vispai  yavoi,  "to  all  futurity,"  yavaetaite,  "in  the  contin- 
uance, i.  e.,  forever,"  as  well  as  in  the  entire  build  and 
organic  unity  of  the  works  which  substantiate  our  claim 
for  the  Avesta  that  it  is  the  first  document  of  this  concept. 
"Immortality"  of  another  kind  must  have  been  thought  of 
times  without  number  wherever  the  human  race  appeared ; 


38  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

recall  the  common  visions  of  the  dead  in  cerebral  hyper- 
action,  as  in  dreams.  In  our  natural  anxiety  to  do  justice 
to  the  initiative  of  the  Avesta  upon  this  particular,  we 
must  by  no  means  make  light  of  this. 

Unquestionably  indeed  the  thought  of  immortality  in 
the  Veda  first  acquired  consistency  from  that  of  "long 
life"  only,  the  ''hundred  autumns"  of  the  Rik.  The  fact 
that  the  word  for  it  is  literally  "immortality,"  Ameretatat, 
the  identical  term,  differing  only  in  the  suffix  (see  above), 
should  by  no  means  however  decide  the  matter  for  us,  as 
a  beginner  might  so  naturally  suppose;  for  mere  "long 
life"  in  this  world,  was  certainly  expressed  by  such  a  word 
as  "non-death,"  just  as  by  a  curious  anomaly  "eternity" 
was,  on  the  contrary,  at  times  expressed  by  a  word  literally 
merely  "long-life"  as  in  the  Veda ;  and  there  is  some  doubt 
that  the  term  dirghayu — or  read  dirghayo — does  not  mean 
"Thou  eternal"  after  all  in  the  Gatha;  see  Y.  XXVIII.  Be 
this  all  in  the  fact  of  it  as  it  may,  the  idea  is  constructively 
applied  even  in  the  Gathas  to  Ahura  as  well  as  to  His 
saints,  and  must  therefore  in  such  connections  mean  "long 
eternal  life"^  while  in  the  next  oldest  book,  the  Haptang- 
haiti,  the  term  Aniesha  (better  Amersha,  i.  e.,  "immortal"; 
see  above),  is  directly  applied  to  the  Archangels,  in  which 
case  this  word  Ameretatat  must  certainly  mean  at  times 
something  very  different  from  "old  age."  As  to  human 
immortality,  see  everywhere;  but  as  to  the  more  pointed 
particulars  of  the  subject,  see  below. 

'Certainly  in  Yasht,  XIII,  83,  where  Ameretatat  has  Ahura  as  her  father. 


CHAPTER  V. 

RESURRECTION. 

ASIDE  from  the  actual  occurrence  of  such  ideas  as  the 
^  number  seven  when  appHed  to  the  Archangels  of  the 
Avesta  and  to  those  mentioned  in  the  Exilic  Semitic  docu- 
ments above  cited,  together  with  the  other  similar  matters 
noted,  nothing  has  been  considered  more  effective  for  the 
establishment  of  analogies  between  the  Exilic  Bible  and  the 
Avesta  than  the  passage  Daniel  xii.  9:  "Many  of  them 
that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting  con- 
tempt." 

The  antecedent  passage  to  it  is  in  Isaiah  xxvi.  19,  and 
the  strongest  sequent  is  that  of  the  well-known  place  in 
Rev.  XX.  12.  This  recalls  at  once  a  dominant  element  in 
Zoroastrianism. 

a.  Resurrection  in  the  Gdtha. 

In  the  Gathas  attention  is  rather  turned  to  human  im- 
mortality in  the  light  of  accountability,  making  them  the 
earliest  consistent  documents  of  such  a  belief  in  a  civilized 
literature,  while  corporeal  resurrection  is  for  the  most  part 
only  implied  throughout,  as  if  it  were  regarded  as  a  sec- 
ondary matter.  See,  however,  the  expression  "forever  in 
the  Druj's  home  their  bodies  lie."  Here  my  colleagues, 
however,  have  laudably  suggested  another  cast  of  mean- 
ing— "forever  they  are  citizens  of  the  Druj's  abode."    But 


40  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

the  Sanskrit  asfi  which  renders  an  as f ayah  (=  "bodies") 
probable,  corresponds  well  with  Avesta  astayo  {as f ayah) 
="bodies,"  and  "bodies,"  i.  e.,  "persons."  "Bodies  in  the 
house"  is,  I  think,  a  more  probable  rendering  than  "citi- 
zens," particularly  as  the  Druj's  abode  is  equivalent  to 
"Hell."  "Citizens"  of  itself  is  a  "good"  term  in  Avesta 
just  as  the  word  for  "augmentation"  of  itself  almost  im- 
plies "holiness,"  in  ancient  Parsi  conceptions.  "Citizens 
of  Hell"  is  not  therefore  of  itself  a  natural  Avestic  expres- 
sion; for  without  further  explanation  we  should  under- 
stand the  word  "citizen"  to  imply  normal  good  character,* 
so  that  my  rendering  above  cited  remains  the  most  rational, 
and  affords  us  the  idea  of  "bodies"  in  the  future  world  as 
does  the  later  but  still  genuine  Avesta ;  moreover,  the  evil 
souls  receive  evil  food,  endure  darkness,  hear  evil  speech, 
all  of  which,  unless  wholly  figurative,  implies  bodily  or- 
gans; and  last  of  all  it  is  a  law  of  exegesis  that  the  most 
objective  rendering  should  be  first  suggested. 

The  Frashakart  in  the  Gatha,  like  the  idea  of  the  Ame- 
shaspends,  is  so  real,  that  it,  like  them,^  has  not  yet  secured 
a  quasi-technical  name  there ;  so  that  we  cannot  pointedly 
bring  it  in;  but  this  signal  group  of  thoughts  interpreted 
by  the  later  Avesta  implies  a  corporeal  resurrection. 

"May  we  be  like  those  who  bring  on  this  world's  per- 
fection," alludes  to  the  future  millennial  or  ultimate  bea- 
tific state,  as  to  which  see  below. 

b.  Resurrection  in  the  Later  Avesta. 

In  the  later  Avesta  we  lose  the  dignity  of  the  Gatha, 
but  we  gain  more  detail  and  color;  see  such  passages  as 

*  This  is  a  distinction  of  the  utmost  critical  importance.  Many  expres- 
sions in  ancient  books  so  notoriously  convey  the  impression  that  the  ideas  in- 
volved in  them  were  of  themselves  "favorable"  and  "affirmative"  that  we  are 
almost  at  times  constrained  to  restore  an  apparently  improbable  text  in  a 
sense  adapted  to  this  important  characteristic. 

*  The  terms  Antesha  spenta  do  not  occur  in  the  Gathas,  appearing  first  in 
the  next  earliest  pieces. 


RESURRECTION.  4I 

"we  sacrifice  to  the  Kingly  Glory  which  shall  cleave  unto 
the  victorious  Saoshyant  (the  One  about  to  benefit,  or  to 
'save')  when  he  shall  make  the  world  progress  unto  per- 
fection." 

Note  again  that  this  passage,  although  considered  to 
be  "late,"  has  not  yet  reached  that  period  when  this  last 
idea  of  "progress  to  perfection"  was  represented  by  an 
especial  name,  a  technical  "Fraskakart" ;  for  it  is  again 
clothed  in  language  which  still  possesses  internal  signifi- 
cance of  a  fully  vital  character ;  as  much  so  as  in  the  fresh- 
making"  of  Yasna  XXX.  See  Yasht  XIX  for  the  further 
form  and  color,  "where  it,  the  world,  shall  be  never  dying, 
not  decaying,  never  rotting,  ever  living,  ever  useful  (profi'.- 
making),  having  power  to  fulfil  all  wishes  [a  charac- 
teristic expression,  meaning  that  'the  world's  inhabitants 
will  then  be  dominant'],  when  the  dead  shall  arise  and 
immortal  life^  shall  come,  when  the  settlements  shall  all  be 
deathless."  See  also  fragment  V  of  Westergaard:  "Let 
Angra  Mainyu,  the  Evil  Spirit  be  hid  beneath^  the  earth ; 
— let  the  D(a)evas  disappear; — let  the  dead  arise,  and  let 
bodily  life  be  sustained  in  these  now  lifeless  bodies."  No- 
tice the  absolute  impossibility  of  merely  "old  age"  as  the 
meaning  of  "immortal"  here. 

c.  In  the  Later  Zoroastrianism. 

In  the  Bundahesh,  chap.  XXXI,  we  have  as  follows:* 
"On  the  nature  of  the  resurrection  it  says  in  Revelations 

*This  passage  has  always  been  held  by  thorough  scholars  to  follow  the 
Gathas  by  a  few  centuries,  but  a  tendency  has  been  lately  manifested  to  place 
the  later  Avesta  some  centuries  after  Christ,  and  this  while  the  Gathas  them- 
selves are  still  firmly  held  to  be  at  least  somewhat  older  than  the  Achaemenian 
inscriptions.  But  this  would  be  to  place  a  vast  interval  of  time,  more  than  a 
thousand  years,  between  the  original  Avesta  and  its  sequents,  which  seems  to 
me  to  be  rather  irrational.  The  later  Zoroastrianism  is  however  a  different 
matter.  That  of  course  post-dated  the  later  Avesta,  which  intervenes  between 
it,  the  later  Zoroastrianism,  and  the  Gathas. 

*  Notice  that  Hell  was  downward. 

*  See  S.  B.  E.,  Vol.  V,  pp.  120  ff . 


42  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

(referring  formally,  as  we  see,  to  once  pre-existing  docu- 
ments as  current  lore.  . .  . )  that.  . .  .in  the  millennium  of 
Hushedarmah  (a  supernaturally  born  posthumous  son  of 
Zarathushtra)  the  strength  of  appetite  will  diminish;  they 
will  first  desist  from  meat  and  then  from  milk,  then  from 
water;  and  for  ten  years  before  Saoshyans  they  remain 
without  food  and  do  not  die." 

We  notice  at  once  the  degeneration  in  the  delineation 
from  the  terms  of  the  genuine  but  later  Avesta,  how  much 
more  from  that  of  the  Gathas.  "After  Saoshyans  comes 
they  prepare  the  rising  of  the  dead ;  as  it  says  that  Zartusht 
asked  of  Auharmazd  thus:  'Whence  does  a  bodily  form 
come  again;  and  how  does  the  resurrection  occur?'  [Com- 
pare the  expression  'with  what  body  do  they  come?']  — 
And  Auharmazd  answered  thus:  'When  through  me  the 
sky  arose  from  the  substance  of  the  ruby  [it  was  supposed 
to  be  stony  coela  ruunt;  cp.  Y.  XXVIII],  and  yet  sup- 
ported without  columns,  [see  Y.  XLIV,  avapas  toish]  on 
the  spiritual  support  of  far  -  compassed  light  [was  fire 
also  thought  of?],  —  when  through  me  the  earth  arose 
which  bore  the  material  life,  and  there  is  no  maintainer 
of  the  worldly  creation  but  it, — when  by  me  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  are  conducted  in  the  firmament  of  luminous  bod- 
ies;— when  by  me  corn  was  created,  so  that,  scattered 
about  in  the  earth,  it  grew  again  and  returned  with  in- 
crease; ['thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall  be  but  naked 
grain'], — when  by  me  color  of  various  kinds  was  created 
in  plants  [flowers];  —  when  by  me  fire  was  created  in 
plants  [vegetable  caloric]  without  combustion; — when  by 
me  a  son  was  created  and  fashioned  in  the  womb  of  a 
mother  and  the  structure  severally  of  the  skin,  nails,  blood, 
feet,  eyes,  and  ears  and  other  things  was  produced.  . .  . 
each  one  of  these,  when  created  by  me,  was  herein  more 
difficult  than  causing  the  resurrection,  for  it  is  an  assist- 
ance to  me  in  the  resurrection  that  they  exist,  [i.  e.,  they 


RESURRECTION.  43 

exist  actually  on  in  their  dissolution,  resurrection  being 
merely  their  re-construction] ;  but  when  they  were  formed 
it  was  not  the  forming  of  the  future  out  of  the  past,  [as  the 
resurrection  will  be],  and  so  it,  the  resurrection,  will  be 
less  formidable  as  an  undertaking  than  the  original  crea- 
tion. 

"When  that  which  did  not  at  all  previously  exist  was 
then  produced,  at  the  creation  (out  of  nothing)  why  is  it 
not  possible  to  produce  again,  [re-construct]  that  which 
was  come  in  an  existing  body;  for  at  that  time,  the  time 
of  the  resurrection,  one  will  demand  the  bone  from  the 
spirit  of  the  earth,  i.  e.,  from  the  dust  [recall  Ezekiel  'bone 
to  his  bone,'  also  Daniel's  'rising  from  the  dust]  the  blood 
from  the  water,  the  hair  from  the  plants,  and  the  life  from 
the  fire,  since  they  were  delivered  to  them  in  the  original 
creation  [at  death].  First  the  bones  of  Gayomard  [the 
Iranian.  Adam]  are  raised  up  ['the  dead  in  Christ  shall 
first  arise'],  then  those  of  Mashyoi  and  Mashyoi,  [the  first 
human  pair],  then  those  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  In  the 
fifty-seven  years  of  Soshyans,  they  prepare  all  the  dead, 
and  all  men  arise  [stand  up],  whoever  is  righteous  and 
whoever  is  wicked,  every  human  creature  ['I  saw  the  dead, 
small  and  great,  stand  before  God'] ; — they  rouse  them  up 
from  the  spot  where  its  life  departs.  Afterward  when  all 
material  living  beings  assume  again  their  bodies  and  forms, 
then  they  assign  them  each  to  a  single  class.  Of  the  light 
accompanying  the  sun  one-half  shall  be  for  Gayomard 
['there  is  one  glory  of  the  sun']  of  the  stars  ['Another 
glory  of  the  stars' — 'one  star  differs  from  another  star  in 
glory'] ;  and  one-half  of  the  light  will  give  enlightenment 
among  the  rest  of  men,  so  that  the  soul  and  body  will  know 
that  is  my  father  and  this  is  my  mother, etc." 

The  Bundahesh  is  a  very  prominent  work  among  the 
later  Zoroastrian  documents,  and,  as  just  implied,  it  post- 
dates Christianity  by  some  hundreds  of  years.     But  the 


44 


AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 


expressions  in  Plutarch  already  alluded  to,  seem  to  indi- 
cate the  prevalence  of  an  almost  exactly  corresponding 
tone  of  thought  as  that  of  this  later  Zoroastrianism  even 
as  early  as  lOO  to  300  B.  C,  and  this  strong  eschatology 
is  homogeneous  in  an  unbroken  chain  with  that  of  prede- 
cessors to  the  time  of  the  Gathas,  whereas  the  Jewish 
doctrine  of  the  later  days  was  an  innovation  of  the  time 
of  the  Exile  intended  to  console  the  captives  who  had  lost 
their  homes  and  their  property;  see  above.  The  same 
remark  applies  to  all  other  post-Christian  Zoroastrian  doc- 
trines. 


CHAPTER  VL 

THE  JUDGMENT  IN  DANIEL  AND  IN  THE  EXILIC  AND   POST- 
EXILIC  THEOLOGY   IN   GENERAL;   SUBJEC- 
TIVE RECOMPENSE. 

THE  next  most  important  particular  which  demands  at- 
tention would  be  the  Day  of  Judgment,  or  rather  "a 
day  of  judgment" ;  for,  as  this  feature  occurs  in  Daniel,  it 
was  primarily  judgment  upon  the  Beast  (see  Dan.  vii.  9-14) 
who  had  persecuted  the  saints;  see  it  supplemented  by 
Revelations  where  the  same  original  motive  of  vengeance 
is  present,  but  where  the  act  itself  is  represented  as  uni- 
versal upon  an  assembled  and  risen  mankind.  So  far  as 
imagery  is  concerned,  the  Zoroastrian  pales  before  its 
sequent,  though  Zoroastrianism  shows  a  superior  refine- 
ment and  depth  in  one  supreme  particular;  for  not  only 
does  it  concern  itself  more  immediately  and  chiefly  with 
the  moral  accountability  and  the  future  state  than  other 
systems  of  its  date,  but  it  offers  the  first  well-certified  oc- 
currence of  the  great  and  crucial  doctrine  of  Subjective 
Recompense,  the  idea  that  "virtue  is  its  own  reward,  and 
vice  its  own  punishment" ;  see  below.  Its  awards  were  not 
exclusively  of  this  character,  and  it  might  possibly  be 
doubted  whether  the  idea  focussed  itself  in  the  thought 
that  the  fact  of  being  "a  sinner"  was  itself  actually  the 
doom  and  execution,  or  whether  it  first  meant  to  suggest 
that  the  particular  sins  were  in  a  way  figuratively  the 
personified  executioners ;  but  it  is  obvious  that  the  one  idea 
was  not  at  all  so  very  far  distant  from  the  other,  and  that 


46  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

the  first  was  certainly  foreshadowed  in  the  last  and  that 
indeed  it  inevitably  led  on  the  mind  at  the  next  step  to  it. 
Subjective  recompense  was  also  not  of  course  the  whole 
of  the  Zoroastrian  Heaven  and  Hell;  but  it  was  the  soul 
of  them, — and  this  might  be  said  to  be  almost  the  crown- 
ing glory  of  this  entire  scheme,  curious  as  such  a  statement 
may  at  first  sight  of  it  appear  to  some  of  us  to  be. 

a.  The  Judgment  in  the  Gdtha. 

In  Y.  XLUI,  4  we  have:  "For  so  I  conceived  of  three 
as  August  [with  others  'as  Holy'],  O  Ahura  Mazda,  when 
I  beheld  Thee  as  supreme  in  the  generation  of  life;  when 
as  rewarding  deeds  and  words  Thou  didst  establish  evil  for 
the  evil,  blest  rewardings^  for  the  good^  by  Thy  just  vir- 
tue^ in  the  creation's  final  change.*  (6)  In  which  (last) 
changing  Thou  shalt  come  and  with  Thine  August  Spirit 
[others,  'and  with  Thy  Holy  Spirit']  and  Thy  Sovereign 
Power,  O  Ahura  Mazda,  by  deeds  of  whom  the  settlements 
are  furthered  through  the  Righteous  Order  (of  Thy  Law) ; 
and  (saving)  regulations  likewise  unto  these  shall  Ara- 
maiti  offer  [Angel  of  the  ready  will]; — yea  laws  of  Thine 
understanding  which  no  man  may  deceive."^  In  another 
key  of  rhythm  in  the  Gatha  Ahunavaiti  we  have  at  Y. 
XXX,  4: 

"Then  those  Spirits  created  as  first  they  two  come  to- 
gether life  and  our  death  decreeing,  and  how  the  world  at 

^  Hardly  "riches"  here. 

*  Notice  the  laws  of  judgment  established  from  the  foundations  of  the 
world,  spoken  of  as  if  seen  by  reflective  vision  directed  upon  the  original 
creation.  Or  are  these  preterits  to  be  read  in  the  sense  of  futures  expressed 
in  the  sense  of  the  improper  conjunctive? 

'  I  prefer  the  original  meaning  in  this  ancient  passage — as  expressing  the 
"justice"  rather  than  the  "wisdom"  of  God,  for  in  the  next  verse  "the  om- 


niscience" is  given 


'Revolution"  is  hardly  the  meaning  here;  "the  turning"  was  an  expres- 
sion for  "the  end," ;  see  other  passages. 

'His  judgment  is  infallible. 


THE  JUDGMENT  IN  DANIEL.  47 

the  last  shall  be  (ordered).     For  the  Evil  (as  Hell)  the 
worst  life,  but  for  the  Holy  the  Best  Mental  (state)  .  . .  ." 

(8)  :  "Then  when  Vengeance  comes,  Vengeance  just 
upon  the  wretches.  ..."  (lo)  "There  on  the  Host  of  the 
Druj  the  blow  of  destruction  descendeth,  but  swiftest  in 
the  abode  of  the  good  Mind  gather  the  righteous;  with 
Mazda  and  Asha  they  dwell,  advancing  in  their  good 
fame." 

Y.  XXX,  1 1 :  "When  long  is  the  wound  of  the  wicked 
and  blessings  the  lot  of  the  saint." 

Y.  XXXI,  17:  "And  what  debts  are  paid  in  justice  for 
the  offering  of  the  Holy. — What  is  the  wicked's  debt,  and 
their  portion  what  in  the  Judgment?" 

Y.  XXXI,  21:  "He  who  deceives  the  saint  for  him 
shall  at  last  be  destruction — long  life  in  the  darkness  his 
lot,  vile^  his  food,  with  revilings  loathsome; — These  be 
your  world,  O  ye  foul.  By  your  deeds  your  own  soul  will 
bring  it." 

XLVI,  7 :  "Karps,  yea,  and  Kavis  are  with  foul  kings 
joining,  deeds  which  are  evil  with  man's  better  life  to 
slay; — cursed  by  their  souls  and  selves,  their  being's  na- 
ture, when  from  the  Judgment's  Bridge  (they  fall,  the 
final  pathway) ;  — Ever  in  Demon's  home — their  bodies' 
lie." 

XLIX,  1 1 :  "Then  evil  rulers,  evil-doers,  evil  speakers, 
those  believing  ill,  and  false  men  evil-minded,  with  evil 
food^  the  souls  to  meet  are  coming.  In  Druj's  home  at  last 
their  forms^  (abide)"  [or  "in  Falsehood's  home  at  last  the 
oitizens(  ?)  (they  are)"]. 

Y.  LI :  "He  who  than  good  better  giveth,  He  who  ren- 

'  Reproduced  in  the  later  Zoroastrianism. 

^More  literally,  "The  K.  and  K.  will  join  and  with  evil  Kings,  with  evil 
rites  and  deeds,  to  slay  the  human  life,  whom  (their)  own  souls  and  their  own 
conscience  will  shriek  at  when  they  come  where  the  Judgment  Bridge  (ex- 
tends) ;  for  ever  to  all  duration — their  bodies,  (lie)  in  the  Druj's  Abode." 

'  This  is  a  fragment  of  the  original  of  Yasht  XXII. 

•Or  "as  citizens  (?)  they  are";  see  above. 


48  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

ders  rewards  for  religion — is  Ahura  Mazda  in  His  sov- 
ereign power ;  but  He  gives  him  worse  than  the  evil — who 
does  not  impart  offerings  to  Him — in  the  last  end  of  the 
world." 

Y.  LI:  "What  satisfaction  thou  shalt  give  through 
Thy  red  flame,  O  Mazda,  give  as  a  sign^*^  through  the 
melted  bronze  [through  the  lake  of  fire]  for  both  the 
worlds,  [see  verse  6]  as  an  indication  [or  "implement"] 
for  the  wounding  of  the  faithless  and  the  prospering  of 
the  saint." 

These  may  suffice  as  expressions  from  the  old  Avesta, 
the  Gathas. 

b.  Judgment  in  the  Later  Avesta. 

In  the  later  Avesta  at  Vendidad  XIX,  we  have:  "O 
Maker  of  the  material  worlds,  Thou  Holy  One,  where  are 
the  awards  given?  Where  does  the  rewarding  take  place? 
Where  is  the  awarding  fulfilled?  Whither  do  men  come 
for  the  reward  which  in  their  life  in  the  material  world 
they  have  made  good  for  the  soul  ?" 

Some  of  the  more  dramatic  features  of  the  super- 
natural judicial  scene  which  appear  in  our  Holy  Scrip- 
tures are  absent  from  the  Avesta,  or  have  perished  from  it ; 
— yet  this  is  again  made  up  by  the  extraordinary  subjec- 
tivity, which  is  present  everywhere;  for  in  answer  to  the 
above  the  soul  seems  to  judge  itself,  justifying  or  con- 
demning itself  in  the  same  manner  as  we  have  just  seen  in 
the  Gathas,  though  this  occurs  on  the  sadder  side  of  the 
matter,  but  even  pleasing  dramatic  features  intervene  in 
this  case  in  the  later  books  Vendidad  and  Yasht  XXII. 
For  it,  the  soul  (V.  xix,  115)  is  met  on  the  Chinvat  Bridge, 
or  at  its  entrance,  by  its  own  counterpart  and  is  questioned 
by  an  image  representing  its  conscience.  A  welcome  which 
recalls  the  most  touching  passage  in  St.  Matthew,  (xxv. 

"  So  I  now  think  to  be  possible  in  view  of  the  Bundahish ;  see  above. 


THE  JUDGMENT  IN  DANIEL.  49 

36-37),  meets  it.  It  then  proceeds  upon  its  path  toward 
the  summit  of  Hara  Berezaiti,  (High Mountain),  the  name 
still  surviving  in  Elburz  in  the  territory  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  Caspian  till  a  late  period. 

There  the  soul  comes  before  the  golden  throne  of  Vo- 
humanah,  who  strangely  enough  represents  the  "Holy 
Man"  like  the  "Son  of  man"  in  the  Gospels;  see  above; — 
and  he,  Vohumanah,  is  also  indeed  the  Good  Mind  of  God 
and  of  His  saints  personified,  recalling  our  doctrine  of  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  which  represents  Christ  as  being  both 
God  and  man.  He  rises  from  his  seat  and  greets  the  ap- 
proaching saved  man.  One  of  the  faithful  beside  Vohu- 
manah, full  of  concern,  asks  him :  "When  didst  thou  come 
from  that  transitory  world  to  this  intransitory  one?  how 
long  was  they  salvation  ?...." 

The  passage  is  of  course  a  mass  of  fragments  and  we 
are  left  without  his,  answer,  though  Ahura  courteously 
intervenes  with  the  remonstrance:  "Ask  him  not  of  that 
cruel  way.  ..."  The  soul  then  passes  on  "contented,"  that 
is  to  say,  beatified;  "to  the  golden  throne  of  Ahura  Mazda 
— and  to  the  golden  thrones  of  the  bountiful  immortals, 
even  to  Garodmana,  Heaven,  the  abode  of  sublimity  or 
song,  to  the  immortals  and  Ahura's  home." 

c.  Judgment  in  the  Later  Zoroastrianism. 

These  delineations  of  Avesta  are  continued  on  the  Bun- 
dahesh  (say  500-700  A.  D.)  and  in  other  works  of  the 
later  Zoroastrianism,  with  little  or  no  diminution  in  the 
subjectivity  of  the  described  occurrences.  In  the  Bunda- 
hesh  on  p.  122,  we  have:  "Then  is  the  assembly  of  Sad- 
vastar  where  all  mankind  will  stand  at  this  time." 

In  that  assembly  every  one  sees  his  own  good  deeds 
and  his  own  evil  deeds,  and  a  wicked  man  becomes  con- 
spicuous as  a  white  sheep  (sic!)  among  the  black.  After- 
wards they  set  the  righteous  man  apart  from  the  wicked, 


50  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

and  then  the  righteous  is  for  Heaven,and  they  cast  the 
wicked  back  to  Hell;  ("take  him  and  cast  him  away  in 
outer  darkness" — darkness  being  a  feature  of  the  Zoro- 
astrian  Hell). 

As  it  says  on  that  day,  when  the  righteous  man  is 
parted  from  the  wicked,  the  tears  of  every  one  thereupon 
run  down  into  his  legs ; — they  weep,  the  righteous  for  the 
wicked,  and  the  wicked  for  himself,  etc. 

In  Daniel  we  have  the  fiery  stream  and  the  melted 
metal,  and  so  we  have  the  Lake  of  Fire  in  Revelations  xx. 
lo,  14.  In  the  Gathas  (Y.  LI)  we  have  "the  melted 
bronze"^^  with  no  lake  or  river  mentioned,  but  in  the 
Bundahesh  it  is  a  river  (p.  125),  and  it  is  there,  as  is  usual 
with  such  matters  in  Zoroastrianism,  rationally  explained ; 
for  it  results  "from  the  melting  of  the  mountains." 

c.  A  Reairrcnce,  for  Illustration. 

In  leaving  this  department  of  the  subject  it  will  not  be 
much  amiss  if  I  go  back  for  a  moment  to  the  point  above 
(see  pp.  37  and  38),  and  call  more  fully  to  notice  one  most 
touching  "element"  in  the  analogies;  see  Yt.  XXII,  7fT.  and 
Vd.  XIX,  30-32.  We  remember  where  our  blessed  Lord, 
not  unlike  Vohumanah,  upon  His  throne,  addresses  His 
redeemed  in  judgment,  saying:  "Come  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father.  . .  .  (Matt.  xxv.  35)  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world ....  for ....  I 
was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in,"  etc. ;  but  the  very  same 
good  deed  is  mentioned  to  the  saved  soul  in  the  Avesta, 
and  in  the  matter  of  essential  thought  in  a  manner  still 
superior  to  that  depicted  in  St.  Matthew, — for  here  in 
Avesta  it  is  the  believer's  conscience  which  addresses  him. 
So  in  St.  Matthew,  as  we  have  it  further  on,  the  bewildered 
soul  inquires  with  pleased  if  startled  wonder — "when  saw 

"  So  I  now  understand  the  passage,  having  formerly  thought  it  could 
read  literally,  "as  hammered  bronze,"  referring  to  a  sword  blade. 


THE  JUDGMENT  IN  DANIEL.  5^ 

I  thee a  stranger etc."    Curiously  enough  we  have 

again  here  the  very  same  idea  in  what  has  been  well  called 
the  most  exquisite  passage  of  the  Avesta  and  already  just 
above  alluded  to. 

On  its  way  to  the  Chinvat  the  soul  first  meets  a  fragrant 
zephyr  loaded  with  aromas  of  a  better  land;  and  it  asks: 
"What  is  this  fragrance  which  is  the  most  rich  which  my 
nostrils  have  ever  grasped?"  Here  is  beyond  all  doubt 
the  element  of  gratified  curiosity.  . .  .as  in  Matt.  xxv.  But 
this  pleased  wonder  is  again  and  more  incisively  expressed 
in  the  next  scene  immediately  following,  where  the  image 
is  a  holy  maid  who  appears  in  the  bloom  of  her  beauty. 
The  Soul  asks  as  before :  "Who  art  thou,  O  Maiden,  who 
art  the  most  beautiful  whom  my  eyes  have  seen?" 

And  she  who  is  his  conscience  answers :  "I  am  verily, 
O  youth,  thy  conscience,  thy  good  thoughts  and  words  and 
deeds,  thy  very  own ;"  but,  curiously  enough,  like  the  per- 
son in  the  Gospel  he  is  again  not  yet  at  once  convinced,  but 
asks:  "Who  hath  desired  Thee  hither  with  his  love,  [that 
is,  invited  thee,]  coming  with  thy  majesty,  thy  goodness, 
and  thy  beauty,  triumphant  and  an  enemy  of  grief  ?"  And 
she  answers:  "It  is  thou,  thou  hast  loved  me — and  desired^^ 
me  hither,  O  youth,  even  thy  good  thoughts  and  words  and 
deeds.  For  when  thou  sawest  idol-worship  thou  didst  de- 
sist  chanting  the  Gathas  and  sacrificing  to  the  good 

waters  and  to  Ahura  Mazda's  fire,  contenting  [that  is  to 
say,  'showing  hospitality  to']  the  righteous  man  [i.  e.,  thy 
brother  saint]  who  came  to  thee  from  near  and  from  afar." 

Here  we  have  hospitality  beyond  a  doubt  fully  and  em- 
phatically expressed  in  the  words  "coming  from  near  and 
from  afar" ; — and  so  in  Matt,  xxv,  we  have  as  cited  above, 
"For  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in" ....  In  the  Gos- 
pel, however,  it  is  not  in  the  very  forefront,  while  in  Avesta 
it  is  the  chief  moral  good  deed  mentioned :  "Coming  from 

""Invited  me." 


52  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

near  and  from  afar"  might  indeed  refer  to  the  pilgrims  for 
high  -  festival  occasions  doubtless  referred  to  in  Yasna 
XXX,  I  and  XLV,  i. 

In  either  case,  in  both  Gospel  and  Avesta,  the  soul  is 
pleasingly  bewildered,  needing  explanation  as  before: 
"When  saw  I  thee  a  stranger?"  in  the  Gospel;  and  in 
Avesta:  "What  is  this  fragrance?"  and  then,  "What 
maiden  art  thou?"^^  and  then  here  once  again  as  if  ex- 
postulating, "Who  hath  desired  thee  hither?"  or,  as  I 
should  now  render :  "Who  hath  invited  thee  hither  ?" 

"It  is  thus,"  she  continues,  [through  thy  good  thoughts 
and  words,  and  deeds,  and  by  contenting  the  saint  who 
came  to  thee  from  afar]  "that  thou  hast  made  me  who  am 
lovely,  still  more  lovely ;  I  am  beautiful  and  beatified ;  and 
thou  hast  made  me  still  more  beautiful  and  beatified ;  I  am 
seated  upon  a  higher  seat,  and  thou  hast  made  me  still 
more  exalted  through  thy  good  thoughts,  and  words,  and 
deeds." — Totally  aside  from  all  possible  and  impossible 
literary  connection,  we  certainly  see  in  each  case  the  same 
hesitating  doubt  with  an  afifecting  humility,  and  the  same 
delighted  satisfaction;  and  most  singular  of  all  from  one 
of  the  same  good  deeds.  It  is  from  this  on  that  the  soul 
goes  toward  the  golden  thrones  of  Vohumanah,  Ahura 
and  the  rest,  as  we  saw  above. 

"  So  before,  "What  wind  is  this?" 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ZOROASTRIANISM  IN  ITS  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS. 

The  More  Precise  Sense  in  which  the  Term  is  Applied 

Above. 

IT  may  seem  to  some  of  my  readers  that  this  conclusion  of 
my  short  treatise  is  hardly  the  place  in  which  to  clinch 
an  important  distinction  as  regards  the  chief  one  of  all  the 
subjects  brought  into  consideration  here.  And  this  final 
and  all-inclusive  point  or  disc,  is  indeed  the  entire  ques- 
tion of  the  definite  aspect  in  which  we  have  intended  to 
view  Zoroastrianism  throughout,  and  this  is  especially 
contrasted  with  its  two  sister,  or  rather  with  its  two 
closely  related,  systems,  not  exclusively  so  of  course,  but 
perhaps  fundamentally  so — most  certainly  so,  to  a  very 
striking  manner  and  degree. 

But  I  have  on  the  contrary  the  impression  that,  after 
having  done  all  that  lay  within  my  power  to  do  to  awaken 
interest  and  to  show  how  the  intellectual  forces  which  I 
proposed  to  marshal  might  be  thought  to  tell  upon  the  de- 
cision, it  might  then  offer  a  sort  of  final  incisive  effect  if 
I  gather  up  the  force  of  what  has  been  said,  and  more 
closely  define  this  one  of  the  principal  factors  brought  into 
operation.  What  then,  in  a  distinctive  or  exclusive  defi- 
nition of  it,  is  this  particular  Zoroastrianism,  the  partial 
effects  of  which  I  have  endeavored  somewhat  closely  to 
trace  in  my  few  pages  above?  And  of  course  I  mean  by 
the  inquiry  to  define  its  two  sister  systems  which  have 


54  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

been  also  necessarily  brought  to  some  degree  into  our 
view;  for  there  exists,  as  might  be  expected,  the  most 
decided  difference  between  the  three,  though  "these  varia- 
tions do  not  touch"  the  primal  characteristics  of  all. 

The  Avesta  and  the  Veda. 

As  to  the  Indian  Veda,  which  is  certainly  the  nearest 
relative  of  the  Avesta  on  the  southern  or  south-eastern 
side,  I  need  hardly  say  that  we  have  here  no  serious  cause 
to  linger  further,  as  I  have  dwelt  upon  it  elsewhere  in 
fuller  terms.  The  common  elements  of  both  Veda  and 
Avesta  involved  in  such  a  review  of  them  as  this,  are  fa- 
miliar ;  and  they  are  also  clear  and  definable ; — but  they  were 
loosely  scattered  within  the  vast  labyrinth  of  early  lore 
which  resembles  rather  an  immense  and  florid  forest,  where 
the  separated  materials  of  both  Avesta  and  Veda  lay  at 
hand,  and  from  which  both  emerged,  its  home  being  far 
away  from  all  contact  with  the  southern  land  and  up 
toward  the  north  and  north-west  of  Iran ;  while  of  the  two 
the  Avesta  and  Rig  Veda,  the  Veda,  let  us  concede  it,  far 
more  closely  resembles  those  original  growths,  (though  so 
much  more  distant  from  the  common  original  home)  for 
the  simple  reason  that  there  is  more  of  it.  A  lore  which  is 
comparatively  sparse,  from  that  very  fact  cannot  repro- 
duce so  many  of  the  early  features  of  its  mother  lore,  as  a 
sister  branch  can  which  is  more  voluminous.  Veda,  there- 
fore, as  a  matter  of  course,  shows  more  of  the  common 
original  than  Avesta.  The  Ameshaspends,  chief  concepts 
of  Avesta,  are  there  in  the  Veda  as  I  have  so  fully  shown 
in  Zarathushtra  and  the  Greeks,  but  they  were  by  no 
means  present  as  a  quintessence  of  selected  and  especially 
venerated  significant  ideas.  They  are  there  also  totally 
unconscious  of  their  kinship  either  with  each  other  or  with 
the  selected  six  of  the  Avesta;  in  fact  they  are  ordinary 


ZOROASTRIANISM  IN  ITS  CHARACTERISTICS.  55 

abstract  thoughts  personified  at  times  indeed,  but  not  dis- 
tinctly grouped  Hke  those  in  Avesta,  nor  distinguished  and 
exalted  as  they  are  in  the  Median  lore,  while  one  of  them, 
and  that  one  from  the  Iranian  side,  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant, is  merely  the  name  of  a  late  Vedic  seer. 

Outside  of  these  few  scattered  concepts,  noble  and 
interesting  as  they  must  ever  be,  the  differences  as  to  the 
tone  and  substance  are  marked  between  the  Avesta  and  the 
Rik.  The  highest  gods  of  Veda  seem  to  struggle  in  a 
throng  to  attain  position  above  their  colleagues;  but  this 
desired  eminence  is  hardly  the  serious  and  solemn  supe- 
riority occupied  by  the  Iranian  Ahura  as  he  appears  in  the 
Avesta;  nor  does  any  one  of  them  really  arrive  at  such 
position  as  He  seeks, — at  least  none  of  them  reaches  it  to 
hold  it ; — southern  imagination  was  too  fervid,  restless  and 
creative.  Southern  life  with  its  milder  climates  and  swarm- 
ing populations  offered  too  wide  an  opportunity  for  both 
impassioned  action,  active  conjecture,  and  vehement  ex- 
pression. Each  great  Deity  has  to  defend  his  position 
against  his  on-coming  rivals,  one  or  more. 

Zoroastrianism,  that  is  to  say,  in  its  earlier  form,  that 
of  the  Gathas,  is,  on  the  contrary,  almost  our  modern  sys- 
tem, startling  indeed  beyond  most  other  things,  even  when 
regarded  solely  as  a  literary  curiosity,  with  its  supreme 
and  refined  good  Deity  and  with  its  excluded  Devil — which 
last  idea  was  indeed  one  of  the  best  of  great  suggestions 
ever  made  to  rid  our  God  of  all  complicity  with  crime. 

The  vile  thing,  by  this  doctrine  of  an  "independent 
Satan,"  is  forever  shut  out  from  Him.  Nowhere  does  the 
Veda  show  a  trace  of  this;  at  least  not  definitely,  while 
the  Attributes  are  almost  scattered  as  if  lost  amidst  an 
interminable  overgrowth ; — so  much  for  that  relation  with 
the  Veda,  so  vitally  essential  as  in  its  elements  it  is. 


56  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

The  Avesta  and  the  Inscriptions. 

But  what  of  the  Daric  Inscriptions  and  their  system, 
aside  from  what  has  been  already  said  or  impHed  above, 
where,  as  we  see,  the  relation,  so  far  as  it  at  first  presents 
itself,  looks  like  identity  out  and  out?  And  here  I  must 
pause  to  make  a  remark  which  is  almost  a  stern  reproach 
to  science  to  be  obliged  to  utter.  It  is  that  this  question  has 
never  been  put  popularly  into  print  and  pressed  home  be- 
fore, at  least  not  in  any  effective  and  incisive  way,  though 
of  course  it  must  have  been  long  since  often  loosely  stated 
in  scattered  remarks  and  in  many  an  essay. 

As  may  be  seen  everywhere  above,  and  in  the  larger 
work,  the  Daric  Inscriptions  are  our  great  and  only  posi- 
tive bridge  of  literary  and  historical  connection  between 
Israel  and  the  Avesta ;  for  they  objectively  form  almost  a 
constituent  part  of  the  Bible  on  the  one  side,  and  of  the 
Avesta  on  the  other;  and  perhaps  of  the  two  they  stand 
closer  to  the  early  pre- Exilic  Bible,  curious  as  such  a  state- 
ment may  at  first  sight  appear  to  be.  Surely  no  rational 
teacher  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  can  dwell  on  these  striking 
Persian  edicts  in  the  Exilic  Scriptures  so  vitally  crucial 
as  they  are  to  all  religious  history,  without  at  the  same 
time  eagerly  scanning  and  deeply  searching  the  Inscrip- 
tions of  the  very  same  imperial  authorities  on  Behistan, 
Persepolis,  etc.  They  possess,  indeed,  these  last,  and  as  of 
course,  in  common  with  the  Avesta,  that  supreme  feature, 
the  presence  of  a  God  as  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth, 
so  termed  with  a  predominant  iteration,  and  therefore  they 
are  conspicuously  marked  above  all  other  documents  of 
their  kind  ancient  or  modern.  He,  Auramazda,  is  upon 
those  Inscriptions  a  Supreme  Good  Being  whose  memorable 
name  was  identical  in  very  form  with  the  Supreme  God  of 
the  Avesta;  and  this  gives  us  what  most  of  all  we  need 
when  we  compare  the  terms  of  the  two  lores,  the  Daric 


ZOROASTRIANISM   IN  ITS  CHARACTERISTICS.  57 

and  the  Iranian.  Taken  together  with  the  devotional  fervor 
of  Darius  expressed,  as  none  such  religious  aspirations 
have  ever  been,  in  his  ever  repeated  appeals  and  ascrip- 
tions of  thankful  adoration,  these  particulars  constitute 
one  of  the  most  eflfective  conjunctions  of  intellectual  cir- 
cumstances of  their  kind  and  nature  ever  recorded  or 
pointed  out; — but  it  is  also  of  course  to  the  last  degree 
necessary  to  show  the  limits  of  these  signal  advantages  in 
the  comparison; — and  here  we  have  to  lay  down  a  prin- 
ciple which  is  strictly  critical  and  unsparing.     It  is  this: 
while  it  is  in  the  first  place  certainly  true  beyond  all  reason- 
able question  that  there  existed  both  a  knowledge  of  the 
Avesta  as  a  series  of  Medic  documents,  and  also  of  its 
general  main  features  on  the  part  of  the  persons  who  dic- 
tated the  texts  from  which  the  stone-cutters  chiseled  the 
Inscriptions  of  Behistan,  etc.,  we  are,  nevertheless,  forced 
to  study  our  sculptured  texts  in  those  Inscriptions  them- 
selves and  in  them  chiefly,  if  not  in  them  alone,  in  order 
to  find  out  what  the  creed  of  their  composer  was ;  for  un- 
less we  positively  assume  that  the  now  surviving  Avesta 
furnishes  the  immediate  background  to  the  ideas  expressed 
in  the  Inscriptions,  then  aside   from   those   Inscriptions 
themselves,  meagre  as  they  must  of  necessity  have  been, 
we  possess  no  such  record  of  the  detailed  opinions  of  those 
authors,  Darius  and  his  successors,  at  all.     While,  in- 
deed, taking  into  consideration  the  necessarily  limited  ex- 
tent of  the  Inscriptions  as  literary  matter,  they  might  be 
regarded  in  some  aspects  of  them  as  being  almost  the  most 
prominent  signal  documents  of  all  Monotheism,  Creation- 
ism  and  of  passionate  personal  devotion  at  their  date, 
yet,  for  all  that,  they  are  by  no  means  at  all  so  near  the 
Israelitish  creed  in  the  point  of  their  doctrines  as  the 
Avesta  is;  and  we  cannot  leave  our  subject  until  we  make 
this  clear. 


58  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

The  Dualism. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  we  cannot  even  affirm  from 
these  majestic  memorials  alone  (i.  e.,  from  the  Texts  of 
Behistan,  etc.),  that  the  priests  of  Darius  actually  held 
even  to  the  more  closely  defined  dualism  of  the  Avesta, 
though  they  unquestionably  held  to  the  chief  female  demon 
who  appears  in  it,  and  I  believe  that  she  or  he,  for  the  demon 
might  be  male(?)  in  the  Inscriptions,  has  in  the  Daric 
creed,  as  in  Avesta,  a  Master,  for  such  systems  are  generally 
pyramidal;  and  that  this  Master  corresponded  tothe  Angra 
Mainyu  of  Avesta  seems  to  be  probable  in  the  extreme; 
and  if  this  was  the  case,  then  it  was  practically  certain  that 
he  was  one  of  the  Two  Original  spirits;  as  he  is  so  defi- 
nitely stated  to  be  in  the  North  Persian  writings.  He  may 
indeed  not  have  been  called  by  the  full  title  "Angra 
Mainyu"  in  the  lore  of  the  Inscriptions,  but  by  some  modi- 
fication of  it.  Or,  again,  he  may  have  lost  in  the  Ach?e- 
menian  lore  that  independence  of  Auramazda  which  is  of 
such  vital  moment  in  Avesta,  just  as  under  the  form  of 
Satan  he  lost  it  later  in  the  Gospels,  where  he  is  completely 
(?)  under  the  power  of  the  Almighty,  and  this  while  he 
may  have  retained  the  name  in  full  or  modified. 

Each  of  these  possibilities,  and  any  others  that  can  be 
reasonably  presented,  must  be  taken  into  consideration  by 
us,  for  such  a  question  as  this  of  the  Dualism  is,  even 
when  regarded  as  a  side-issue,  of  the  utmost  interest  as 
well  as  of  the  gravest  importance  as  an  intellectual  re- 
ligious circumstance;  and  in  our  serious  endeavors  to  ex- 
ploit the  entire  matter,  we  should  here  proceed  with  the 
utmost  care  and  circumspection,  with  regard  to  it ;  for  we 
should  regard  it  as  a  positive  certainty  that  there  existed 
a  mass  of  religious  lore  in  Persia  proper  which  has  now 
been  lost  to  us ; — all  surviving  allusions  to  Mazda-worship 


ZOROASTRIANISM  IN  ITS  CHARACTERISTICS.  59 

in  Greek  and  Latin  authors  seeming  to  refer  to  the  Medic 
or  Zoroastrian  form  of  it. 

The  Ameshaspends. 

Nor  can  we  say  with  certainty  that  those  composers  of 
the  Inscriptions  accepted  the  Ameshaspends;  see  above, 
though  it  is  practically  certain  that  they  heard  their  names 
re-echoed  on  every  side;^  nor  does  the  word  "Deva"  occur 
upon  the  Inscriptions ;  so  that  my  readers  must  understand 
that,  in  bringing  in  the  above  Mazda-worship,  I  refer  dis- 
tinctly to  the  Avesta  for  my  main  points  as  to  the  detail  of 
the  Persian  and  Exilic  eschatology,  and  not  at  all  imme- 
diately to  the  Inscriptions  in  my  main  arguments,  for  it 
is  in  the  Avesta,  and  in  that  alone,  with  its  implied  prede- 
cessors, that  we  have  the  acme  of  analogy  with  the  Exilic 
Judaism.  Nothing  of  its  kind  approaches  it  in  this  respect 
in  the  history  of  any  religion  with  which  I  am  acquainted, 
unless  in  cases  where  the  one  religion  has  been  distinctly 
a  descendant  of  the  other;  that  is  to  say,  nothing  that  is 
prominent  and  well  assured.  Avesta  and  the  Exilic  Bible 
should  be  to  all  conscientious  searchers  the  question  of  the 
hour.    So  much  for  this. 

What  is  Exilic  f 

But  another  matter  indeed  of  an  analogous  character 
presses  closely  upon  us  with  the  implied  demand  to  make 
it  finally  plain  in  the  full  scope  of  all  our  inferences. 

We  have  been  talking  at  every  juncture  of  what  is 
Exilic,  pre- Exilic,  and  post-Exilic.  But  what  do  we  really 
mean  by  it  all?  What  is  then  really  ''Exilic"  in  a  closer 
definition  ?  The  distinction  is  of  course  the  one  most  vital 
of  its  kind  of  all  that  one  can  possibly  make  with  regard 
to  the  Bible;  and  I  have  indeed  necessarily  foreshadowed 
everywhere  what  I  am  now  about  more  distinctly  and  more 

*  See  my  Zarathushtra,  the  Achamenids,  and  Israel,  at  the  places  as  per 
index. 


6o  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

fully  to  repeat,  as  it  will  be  nearly  essential  for  me  to 
clinch  what  I  have  already  said  above  by  putting  it  in  the 
clearest  light  and  emphasis ;  for,  like  the  other  distinctions 
just  made,  it  is  seldom  so  pointedly  presented  as  it  ought 
to  be  in  its  full  argumentative  force. 

Exilic  and  Pre-Exilic. 

The  matter  in  its  closer  point  is  this :  We  everywhere 
speak  of  the  "Exilic  Books" ;  but  it  is  an  obvious  and  pres- 
sing fact  that  much  Exilic  matter  is  present  in  many  places 
in  our  at  present  so-called  pre-Exilic  texts ;  we  might  indeed 
be  imperatively  forced  to  doubt  the  uninfluenced  existence 
of  any  pre-Exilic  texts  at  all,  for  how  could  that  primeval 
lore  have  been  preserved  intact;  since  all  knowledge  of 
important  parts  of  it  was  even  entirely  lost  in  such  a  period 
as  the  reign  of  Josiah.^  And  in  a  discussion  like  this,  Ex- 
ilic matter,  if  it  exists  even  at  all  in  the  Books  which  we 
have  hitherto  called  pre-Exilic,  becomes,  if  recognized, 
equally  with  the  peculiar  doctrinal  elements  of  the  later 
books,  an  almost  supremely  dominant  factor. 

What  then  are  the  particulars  which  thus  control  to  a 
wide  extent  the  situation  here  ? 

Perils  of  the  Manuscripts. 

It  would  be  like  trifling  with  it  for  us  to  ask  whether 
any  persons  of  credit  anywhere  suppose  that  the  Hebrew 
Bible  has  been  miraculously  preserved,  or  preserved  other- 
wise-than  in  the  usual  manner,  according  to  the  regular 
laws  of  nature.  We  may  therefore  take  it  at  once  for 
granted  that  all  serious  readers  here  believe  that  the  texts 
of  the  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament  have  been 
handed  down  to  us  in  manuscripts — like  all  other  ancient 
documents  of  their  kind, — and  it  is  indeed  a  circumstance 
marvelous  enough  that  they,  or  any  other  ancient  docu- 

*2  Kings  xxii.  8.    See  tbe  impression  produced  by  the  finding  of  the  Book 
of  the  Law  in  the  Temple  even  in  that  enlightened  reign. 


ZOROASTRIANISM   IN  ITS  CHARACTERISTICS.  6l 

ment  at  all,  have  been  handed  down  to  us  in  any  form ;  for 
the  continuous  life  of  ancient  books  before  the  art  of  print- 
ing is  indeed  as  strange  a  phenomenon  as  the  re-appear- 
ance of  plants  or  animals  in  separated  continents  divided 
by  water  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  So,  even  of  our  Holy 
Scriptures,  one  would  suppose  that  a  single  breath  of  war 
or  political  agitation  would  literally  shake  what  is  pre- 
served in  brittle  manuscripts  almost  to  irrecoverable  frag- 
ments; and  undoubtedly  every  convulsion,  such  as  a  cam- 
paign or  an  exilic  deportation,  has  diminished  the  volume 
of  these  precious  objects  which  have  however  lived  on  in 
their  mysterious  pertinacity.  Schools  of  copyists  existed 
everywhere,  of  course,  as  well  as  individual  skilled  pen- 
men. The  scribes  were  obviously  closely  occupied  in  every 
center  of  religious  learning  as  an  essential  element,  and 
some  of  them  in  every  detached  community  must  have  been 
charged  with  the  especial  care  of  the  sacred  rolls.  And  if  this 
were  the  case  while  the  Temple  still  stood,  how  much  more 
must  it  have  been  the  case  in  the  keen  religious  revivals  of 
the  Exile  ?  Then,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  avalanche 
of  sorrows  which  first  stupified,  then  infuriated,  and  at 
last  reformed  the  holy  race,  made  them  search  all  the  more 
solemnly  their  religious  scriptures. 

The  to  them,  doubtless,  most  impressive  pageants  of 
theii'  ritual  had  exercised  unquestionably  much  restrain- 
ing influence  of  a  favorable  character  upon  their  minds 
as  well  as  stimulated  to  some  degree  the  active  elements 
in  their  faith,  and  in  fact  it  had  been  all-important  in  con- 
solidating and  preserving  their  intense  unity  as  a  people; 
— but  temporal  and  corporeal  considerations  held  their 
sway,  as  was  most  natural,  in  the  incessant  struggle  and 
friction  of  their  doubtless  busy  national  and  civic  life  in 
its  periods  of  prosperity, — with  all  its  fervent  passion  and 
its  vivid  color : — and  this  may  be  readily  seen  in  the  mar- 
velous literary  productions  of  the  Exilic  period.     But  the 


62  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

war  of  the  Exile  came, — and  their  existence  as  a  nation 
was  terminated  or  suspended.  At  first  their  experiences 
were  bitter  indeed,  with  the  effect  that  their  beauti- 
ful lyrics  were  the  more  often  heard  stirring  the  calm 
evening  air  in  the  rural  suburbs  of  Babylon  and  in  its 
surrounding  provinces.  The  songs  of  Zion  become  then 
their  consolation, — and  since  the  sacred  scenes  of  the 
Temple  no  longer  survived  to  impart  support  to  them,  they 
began  all  the  more  eagerly  to  read  and  search  their  to 
them  inspired  scriptures ; — yes,  and  to  write  further  such 
compositions  for  themselves  so  that  to  those  bards  of  the 
"sad"  Captivity  we  owe  most  of  the  sublimer  passages  of 
all  the  Semitic  Revelation.  Then  surely  they  redoubled 
every  effort  to  preserve  and  multiply  the  surviving  docu- 
ments of  their  Holy  Law,  written  doubtless  upon  skins, 
which  would  bear  the  wear  and  tear  of  constant  use  better 
than  the  later  materials,  if  indeed  any  other  materials  were 
ever  really  known  to  them. 

Recopying  of  course  took  place,  as  it  had  never  been 
so  pushed  on  before;  and  it  was  done  by  men  who  lived 
near  Babylon  among  the  Persian  garrisons  as  well  as  im- 
mediately within  the  "Cities  of  the  Medes."  Do  we  suppose 
that  those  tribes  so  forcibly  settled  in  these  "Cities,"  which 
must  have  been  to  some  degree  of  it  important  centers, 
were  of  all  conceivable  Jewish  communities  the  only  ones 
without  their  Rabbis,  their  ordinary  priests,  their  scribes 
and  their  Exile-archs?  Here  then  was  Judaism  in  the 
heart  of  Media  which  was  even  more  Zoroastrian  than  Per- 
sia proper  or  than  Persian  Babylonia.  Was  not  Ragha  itself 
a  chief  one  of  those  very  "Cities  of  the  Medes"  to  which 
allusion  is  twice  made  categorically  in  Kings; — Ragha 
which  was  a  very  hot-bed  of  Zoroastrianism?  Surely  Ra- 
gha, as  almost  the  center  of  the  tale  of  Tobit,  has  high 
claims  to  have  been  at  least  one  of  those  places  where  the 
tribes  were  originally  placed.    Among  the  literary  people 


ZOROASTRIANISM  IN  ITS  CHARACTERISTICS.  63 

of  those  tribes  was  many  a  one  who  had  at  least  some  ad- 
mission to  the  circles  of  the  great  satraps,  while  as  to  those 
who  had  settled  near  Babylon,  the  kings  themselves  lived 
hard  by  at  the  summer  palace  city,  Shushan,  amidst  the 
breezy  hills  of  Elam,  and  both  military  and  royal  proces- 
sions must  have  often  occupied  the  roads.  These  imperial 
people,  as  we  see  from  Ezra  and  his  successors,  knew  much 
of  the  "Great  God"  of  their  new  subjects;  and  that  the 
Jewish  leaders  knew  something  of  their  faith,  in  recipro- 
cating interest,  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  doubt;  informa- 
tion on  the  one  side  here  of  course  presupposes  information 
on  the  other.  Avidity  is  none  too  strong  an  expression  to 
describe  the  curiosity  with  which  the  gifted  Semites  must 
have  questioned  every  Persian  priest  among  their  other 
new  found  fellow  citizens,  though  in  the  case  of  the  Babylo- 
nians the  first  ferocities  of  resentment  must  be  allowed 
time  to  have  worn  away. 

"What  was  then,  more  precisely,  this  religion  of  their 
great  deliverer  with  its  God  so  like  their  own  Yahveh? 
And  what  were  these  angelic  beings  whose  names  were 
echoed  everywhere  among  their  new-found  friends?" — 
for  they  were  later  the  very  names  of  the  months  and  days 
among  these  North  Medic  officers,  and  they  may  well  have 
been  so  then  f — and  beside  this  with  little  doubt  the  beings 
whom  they  designated  were  even  worshiped  constantly  at 
various  divisions  of  the  day.  If  then  they  could  really 
understand  that  these  noble  words  meant  in  their  first  ap- 
plication more,  far  more,  than  the  titles  of  mere  angels, — 
that  they  were  actually  the  descriptive  appellations  of 
God's  attributes ;  see  above,  and  only  then  later  personified 
as  His  first  creatures, — how  striking  this  must  have  ap- 
peared to  them.  And — what  was  this  deep  doctrine  "as  to 
thought,  as  to  word,  and  as  to  deed"  ?  How  melodious  too 
were  those  Gathic  chants  in  meters  sister  to  the  Veda 

•  See  above. 


64  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

which  they  now  for  the  first  time  heard ; — and  how  strange 
this  doctrine  of  a  resurrection, — of  an  advanced  Heaven 
and  Hell, — of  millennial  hopes,  etc.  Surely  it  is  impossible 
that  the  Jewish  schools  of  Babylon,  not  to  speak  again  of 
those  in  the  "Cities  of  the  Medes,"  should  not  have  known 
something  about  the  faith  of  their  Persian  king,  whose 
troops  and  courtiers,  and  beyond  all  question  whose  priests 
also,  swarmed  on  every  side  with  the  usual  staffs  of  as- 
sisting acolytes.  Ignorance  here  seems  simply  inconceiv- 
able. They  must  have  been  little  indeed  like  their  succes- 
sors, the  well-known  Jewish  seers  of  keenest  wit  in  Baby- 
lon, if  they  knew  nothing  of  all  this.  Unlike  indeed  the 
men  who  founded  the  impressive  schools  at  that  great 
center,  and  who  wrote  our  Exilic  Bible  for  us,  with  our 
finest  Talmud; — little  of  their  kind  indeed  were  they,  if 
they  did  not  find  out  all  that  Cyrus's  priests  could  tell 
them,  while  the  great  King  was  doubtless  himself  seen 
often  in  his  first  Capitol  both  in  ordinary  imperial  resi- 
dence and  in  the  ever-intervening  crises  of  his  reign.  Re- 
member how  closely  even  an  Alexander  some  centuries 
later  on  could  question  the  Persian  Destoors  as  to  their 
lore  with  its  impressive  creed — while  at  later  than  the 
latter's  date  Jewish  stories  were  half  pure  Persian  in 
Medish  scenes;  see  above. 

Every  Exile  prophet,  whose  works  have  survived  to 
us,  shows  that  he  breathed  a  new  -  found  atmosphere ; 
though  he  may  have  learned  the  Persian  tenets  by  hearsay 
only  and  at  second  or  indeed  only  at  third  hand,  just  as 
they  must  have  later  heard  of  the  great  inscriptions  when 
they  were  newly  cut  and  of  many  a  predecessor  of  them 
now  long  since  vanished,  for  that  their  replicas  were  every- 
where is  clear  from  Behistan.  Those  on  that  rock  could 
not  be  at  all  reached  by  the  passing  wayfarers  who  might 
wish  to  read.     Copies  therefore  of  their  substance,  if  not 


ZOROASTRIANISM   IN  ITS  CHARACTERISTICS.  65 

of  their  letter,  must  have  been  provided,  and  they  must 
have  been  amply  in  evidence  in  every  higher  school. 

The  contrary  to  this  is  excluded  absolutely  from  all 
sane  consideration;  see  also  the  alleged  messages  from 
Cyrus  on  his  side  as  also  those  from  Darius,  Xerxes,  and 
Artaxerxes;  and  see  their  edicts  in  our  Bibles  with  the 
throngs  of  ordinary  Persian  words  and  names  like  Mithra- 
dates,  among  those  of  the  Jews.  These  things  do  not 
prove  intercourse;  they  are  "intercourse"  itself.  And  as 
the  prophets,  so  the  priests,  and  the  priestly  scribes;  the 
devoted  men  toiled  doubly  for  many  a  weary  day  copying 
and  recopying  the  holy  texts.  That  they  did  not  restore, 
interpolate  and  emend  them  everywhere  is  inconceivable, 
if  for  no  other  reason,  then  because  they  were  often  for  the 
most  part  quite  half  the  time  half-legible;  and  duty  itself 
would  call  on  them  to  bring  the  dim  tracings  back;  whole 
folios  and  even  masses  of  folios  would  be  also  lost,  gone 
doubtless  forever.  Emendations  were  therefore  made 
everywhere  at  frequent  intervals;  see  above;  could  this 
have  been  avoided?  And  this  took  place,  as  we  must 
clearly  see,  all  the  more  with  regard  to  the  oldest  and  most 
sacred  parts  of  Holy  Writ.  Do  we  suppose  that  the  skins 
on  which  Genesis  was  painted  were  really  any  stronger 
than  those  inscribed  with  the  first  Isaiah,  or  that  the  pig- 
ments used  as  ink  were  less  capable  of  efifecting  corrosions 
in  the  course  of  time?  Often  indeed  would  the  oldest 
scripture  stand  recopied  in  the  newest  handwriting  and 
upon  the  freshest  scroll.  Their  new-found  ardor,  born  of 
their  adversities  and  their  new  associations,  had  created 
the  searching  diatribes  of  Ezekiel  and  of  the  rest, — and 
it  is  inconceivable  that  the  re-writers  did  not  add  stirring 
passages  even  in  the  oldest  documents  to  their  studies  in 
their  endeavor  to  restore  and  point  the  meaning  here  and 
there.  Little  indeed  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  those  early 
dates  has  been  left  at  all  to  us,  comparatively  speaking, 


66  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

precious  beyond  measure  as  that  little  is,"*  and  everywhere 
throughout  the  documents  which  were  preserved  fresh  and 
live  thoughts  have  been  implanted  as  the  needs  arose.  And 
from  this  let  us  gather  our  ideas  of  the  "Exilic"  elements 
in  the  former  still  embedded  in  the  Semitic  books  through- 
out the  very  oldest  documents,  though  of  course  these 
very  emendations  have  themselves  shared  somewhat  the 
fate  of  their  primeval  predecessors.  Time  and  accident, 
travel,  exile,  war  and  sacrilege  have  of  course  changed 
text  after  text,  and  this  beyond  all  question  even  in  the 
oldest  books. 

Yet  what  is  original  is  not  so  hard  to  recognize ;  simply 
because  the  Exilic  interpolations  are  so  clear.  I  will  not 
prolong  this  point ; — this  conclusion  is  but  intended  to  be 
a  short  remark.  Everywhere  throughout  the  oldest  books 
of  the  pre-Exilic  Bibles,  the  re-writers  inserted  their 
keener  thoughts:  so  that  "pre-Exilic"  is  a  very  dubious 
term.  We  must  search  the  very  texts  of  the  Hexateuch 
for  it  if  we  would  do  our  work,  for  Exilic  matter  must  be 
everywhere. 

With  this  I  close  my  brief  essay,  begun  at  the  request 
of  a  distinguished  friend,  but  here  expanded  far  beyond 
the  limits  of  a  short  Appendix,  all  that  was  at  first  in- 
tended. 

For  a  still  greater  substitute  more  hastily  struck  off, 
see  Appendix  IV  of  the  able  conservative  work  of  the 
Rev.  C.  H.  H.  Wright  on  Daniel,  Vol.  II,  1906. 

*It  would  be  indeed  almost  a  miracle,  if  truth  can  assure  us  that  one 
tenth  of  our  earliest  Bible  has  actually  survived,  holy  and  sacrosanct  as  that 
fragment  so  truly  is, — emendation,  interpolation,  excision  went  on  everywhere 
pari  passu  with  defacement,  corrosion,  theft,  burning,  vandalism,  and  every 
loss.     Exilic  matter  crops  out  everywhere  throughout. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GOD  AND   HIS  IMMORTALS. 

Ahura. 

AHURA,  the  life-Spirit-Lord,  existed  as  a  word  in  its 
.  form  of  Asura  from  immemorial  ages  in  the  common 
primeval  home  of  Veda  and  Avesta ;  and  no  name  could  be 
nobler  for  a  holy  God.  It  is  better  than  Deus, — Zeus, 
which  referred  to  the  shining  sky ;  better  than  "God,"  far 
better  in  its  origin  at  least;  for,  curiously  enough,  it  ex- 
presses the  same  supervening  ideas  that  we  have  in  the 
Hebrew  Yahveh  which  was  later  thought  to  mean  "the 
being  One,"  the  "I  am  that  I  am."^  This  is  the  very  same 
concept  which  lives  essentially  and  etymologically  in  Ahura ; 
for  He  is  the  source  and  interior  of  being,  Ahii-ra;  and, 
so  far  as  I  can  remember,  this  is  the  deepest  epithet  that 
has  ever  been  prominently  applied  to  Deity.  With  this 
we  have  the  other  name  Mazda,  "the  Great  Greater,"  or 
with  tradition  the  "Great  Wise  One."  No  words  could  be 
more  impressive  nor  more  interpenetrating.^ 

The  Amesha  Spent  a. 

While  the  six  characteristics — virtues  would  not  be 
the  proper  word — are  absolutely  the  main  laws  of  a  right- 
eous universe,  clear  and  pure.  Simple  indeed  they  are,  as 
all  things  universal  must  be ; — common  too,  as  the  breath- 

*  An  unquestionably  later  interpolation  of  Exilic  origin. 

*  Nor  have  any  more  impressively  effective  appeared  in  history. 


68  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

air  that  we  breathe,  for  life  is  common ;  they  are  the  most 
interior  and  elevating  forces  in  all  that  we  really  know,  or 
so  to  us  they  should  be.    Here  they  are  in  a  sense  collected ; 
and  in  them  all  that  is  fittest  for  expression  speaks  to  us. 
Not  of  themselves  only  do  they  thus  impel  us,  once  merely 
uttered,   and  then  left  wandering,   scattered  as  it  were 
amidst  an  innumerable  host  of  other  similarly  treasured 
spiritual  things.    *Gems  of  imperishable  cost  they  would 
be,  or  they  are,  even  then  as  so  dispersed,  and  so  existing 
to    us,  though    almost    irretrievably  hidden    amidst    the 
throngs  of  other  beauty  from  our  most  eager  sight.    And 
so  indeed  they  actually  once  lay  strewn  like  jewels  of  first 
water  all  dull  and  unpolished  and  rarely  recognized  in  the 
bed-rock  of  their  unwrought  mines  or  buried  in  their  native 
clay; — vague  surmises  were  they  ever  even  then  of  the 
eternal  way  in  which  the  beneficial  powers  sometimes  work 
for  us  for  good.     But  here,  as  seen,  they  are  gathered  up 
for  us;  not  like  the  glittering  objects  in  a  diadem, — that 
would  be  indeed  too  low  an  image, — not  like  the  flowers 
upon  a  full-flushed  tree,  but  like  the  solar  systems  around 
their  central  orb.     Like  this  these  all-pervading  order- 
forces  revolve  around  the  throne  of  their  Great  Sover- 
eign;— nay  more,  they  actuate  the  very  Person  of  the 
God  Omnipotent, — in  honor — they  are  not  His  decora- 
tions; far  from  it, — God  forbid.     They  are  His  very  Na- 
ture.   He  is  the  self-dividing,  all  enclosing  Prism  of  them 
all, — the  One  of  glorious  hues  that  fold  and  unfold  them- 
selves in  everlasting  light.     They  are  m  a  word  God's 
character,  than  which  no  further  thought  is  thinkable. 
And  as  the  eternal  ideals  of  all  truth  and  order,  they  are 
those  essential  conditions  of  well-being,  toward  which  all 
sentient  subjects  spiritually  gravitate  and  should  forever 
yearn ; — and  they  are  here  enthroned, — made  dominant, — 
set  over  everything  in  a  way  pre-eminent,  though  they 
have  indeed  evolved  themselves  through  long  preceding 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  69 

ages,  nay  rather,  though  they  have  gathered  crystal-like 
in  their  clusters  through  previous  cycling  aeons. 

Asha. 

Asha,  the  very  first  law  of  all  our  better  consciousness, 
here  even  seriously  gains  in  its  application,  marvelous  as 
such  a  thing  may  seem  to  some  of  us  to  be. 

It,  Asha,  is  indeed  itself  and  in  itself.  Heaven's  and 
nature's  first  moral  guide,  here  declared  also  to  be  the 
first  principle  of  God's  eternal  being.  It  is  lifted  up  by  all 
that  there  is  in  the  conception  of  the  divine  personality, — 
brought  into  operation, — becoming  at  once  when  estab- 
lished among  the  Six  a  mighty  challenging  idea  flinging 
its  defiance  at  that  one  gigantic,  but  malign  element,  its 
opposite,  the  Lie,  a  spirit  demon  which  withers  us  on  every 
side.  It  proclaimed  the  Truth  in  the  post-ultimate  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  asserting  that  there  was  indeed  such  a 
thing  as  a  law  actual, — and  this  not  as  a  pointless  senti- 
ment, feebly  fluttering,  but  as  the  very  first  instinct  of 
God's  character.  From  eternity  past  it  has  been  the  same, 
so  in  the  vital  present,  and  to  all  coming  futurity  will  it 
abide  unchangeable. 

If  we,  who  struggle  to  maintain  honor,  believe  God  to 
be  indeed  a  person,  here  is  a  support  immeasurable  for  us. 
The  srreat  crucified  but  risen  Christ  of  faith  cheers  all  our 
efforts  on,  for  it  has  an  almighty  mind  to  harbor  it  and  to 
guard  it,  to  assist  it,  and  proclaim  it  in  the  very  ultimate 
essence  of  its  worth; — for  of  such  a  mind  is  it  indeed  an 
all-controlling,  dominant,  though  merely  regulative  part. 

What  a  consolation  indeed  for  those  who  think  Truth 
possible  and  who  believe  in  God  in  any  sense  of  Him ; — to 
think  that  there  is  at  least  one  person  who  is  True, — and 
such  a  Person!  And  we  see  how  beautifully  such  a  creed 
applies  itself.  Here  we  have  a  God  omnipotent  to  protect 
us,  and  to  further  us,  and  to  bless  us; — but  He  consists, 


70  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

in  part  at  least,  of  fidelity ;  and  we  h^ve  no  connection  with 
Him  save  as  we  are  faithful.  Abandon  honor  and  He 
vanishes.  There  is  no  God  but  the  true  God,  the  Asha- 
God. 

But  like  all  things  of  its  nature  the  growth  of  this 
great  but  simple  principle,  in  its  recognition  of  course  I 
mean,  was,  as  I  say,  but  gradual. 

It  developed  at  first  slowly  enough  indeed,  as  we  may 
both  most  readily  conjecture  and  concede,  with  languid 
signs  of  life  as  its  first  glimmer  shone  among  the  vague 
dreams  of  sentient  beings,  glowing  feebly  into  fuller  light. 
And  elsewhere  and  aside  from  either,  it  seems  to  have  been 
in  fact  the  very  last  and  most  remote  of  all  the  ideas  to  be 
recognized  as  concentered  and  so  elevated  in  the  forms 
of  ancient  creeds,  as  at  all  in  any  way  a  particular  trait  of 
any  one  of  all  the  beings  called  "divine,"  not  even  of  the 
chief  of  them,  so  luxuriantly  depicted  as  they  are  in  the 
wreaths  of  our  immortal  song. 

Even  in  the  pre-Gathic  age  it,  Asha  of  the  Holy  Truth, 
was  of  course  surmised  dimly  as  a  universal  regulative 
power ; — but  only  by  degrees  did  it  unfold  itself  into  clear 
consciousness  as  it  grew,  as  all  things  like  it  must.  That 
is  to  say,  the  very  first  idea  of  it  as  a  concept  developed 
but  tardily  as  our  race  rose  from  its  animal  predecessors. 
— Some  sort  of  consecutive  sequence  may  indeed  have  even 
revealed  itself  to  the  instincts  of  the  higher  animals;  the 
next  beneath  us ;  but  it  is  better  to  confine  ourselves  to  man. 

The  observed  regularity  in  the  sequence  of  natural  phe- 
nomena first  riveted  attention  as  we  grew  human; — espe- 
cially the  heavenly  bodies  seemed  to  follow  some  rule,  chief 
of  all  and  naturally  the  God-like  sun,  which  was  often 
seen  quite  unclouded  for  long  periods  in  lands  called  Iran. 
Its  august  reappearances  followed  Law  even  in  its  super- 
vening changes  in  situation  and  intensity,  with  occasional 
eclipse.     It  never  failed,  and  on  its  fidelity  the  balance  of 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  "Jl 

all  existing  necessary  objects  seemed  to  hang.  Without 
one  phase  of  it  planting  would  be  impossible,  without  an- 
other harvest,  without  a  third  the  source  of  tonic  health. 

Soon  the  moon,  its  brother  luminary,  for  the  moon  is 
masculine  both  in  Veda  and  Avesta,  took  up  the  tale  with 
his  five  changes,  and  with  these  the  reverting  atmospheric 
modifications  seemed  to  harmonize. 

The  main  features  of  the  advancing  year-time  seemed 
ever  calculable.  The  great  wind-storms  of  the  Marutis, 
with  their  driven  clouds  flying  on  before  them,  seemed  to 
arrive  at  certain  intervals  in  many  regions  including  India, 
with  the  return  of  ice  and  snow  elsewhere  and  mostly 
hated, — the  periodic  rains  torrential  or  soft  and  fertilizing, 
the  dews  and  the  flowering  earth  itself : — these  all  followed 
one  another  at  seeming  regulated  intervals ; — it  was  Asha, 
order.  Endeared  among  all  else  was  the  inextinguishable 
fire  not  only  blazing  in  the  ever  self-consuming  God  of  day, 
but  in  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth,  known  too  in  the 
caloric  of  plants,  flaming  also  in  forked  lightning  in  the 
heavens,  snake-like  in  figure; — again  it  was  the  friend  of 
man  on  hearth  and  altar.  Asha  became  its  very  synonym, 
and  so  from  this  its  sacredness,  from  regularity;  it  was 
indeed  "God's  son."^  Then  too  the  great  ocean  tides,  to 
recall  again  the  waters,  with  their  ever  measurable  ebb  and 
flood,  could  not  have  been  altogether  unknown  to  them, 
our  early  forebears,  through  hearsay,  though  living  inland : 
— so  too  the  spring  freshets  with  swollen  streams  were 
ever  to  be  looked  for  in  their  times.  All  was  the  unvarying 
circling  forms  of  recurring  certainty; — it  was  Asha,  rita, 
"rhythm."  It  reigned  supreme  in  the  terrific  as  in  the 
genial. 

What  wonder  then  that  they  began  to  think  that  the 
thoughts  of  God  were  similar,  supposing  always  that  they 
had  at  that  time  any  distinct  idea  whatsoever  of  a  God, — 

'  A  frequent  expression  as  applied  to  It  in  the  late  Avesta. 


^2.  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

that  His  law  in  some  of  its  interior  elements  would  har- 
monize with  this  rhythm  "as  to  thought,  as  to  word,  and 
as  to  deed" ; — that  is  to  say,  that  it  should  be  "perfect,  con- 
verting the  soul." 

All  was  symmetric  in  its  movements;  that  is,  all  was 
Asha.  It  was  "nature"  always  and  everywhere,  natura, 
"to  be  born,"  and  to  be  born  again,  natura,  not  futura 
merely,  but  natura,  to  be  rhythmically  born  in  a  reap- 
pearance never  unreasoned  in  its  process,  —  seed,  stem, 
leaves,  fruit,  to  seed,  stem,  leaves  and  fruit  again, — stream, 
mist,  cloud,  rain,  to  stream,  mist,  cloud,  rain  again, — 
spring  freshness,  summer  bloom,  autumn  harvest,  winter 
frost  with  cheer  or  misery,  to  spring,  bloom,  harvest,  frost 
again.  It  was  law  forever  fulfilling  itself, — Asha,  Rita, 
Rhythm. 

So  in  the  old  Veda,  in  those  early  days,  when  man  had 
however  somewhat  begun  to  form  himself;  Rita  was  so 
distinctly  recognized  that  the  very  ceremonial  service  to  the 
Heavenly  Spirits  followed  its  course  in  imitation.  "Rite" 
appeared  as  Rita ;  that  is  to  say,  regularity  in  disciplined 
religious  action  in  a  form  spectacular,  presented  cease- 
lessly and  seldom  varying,  never  abruptly,  strictly  and 
strenuously  carried  out  by  priests  with  closest  care,  con- 
secrated for  the  ceremonial  in  sacrifice  and  praise. 

But  it  was  only  in  the  stern  Gatha,  rough  and  sparse 
but  glorious,  that  the  Rita,  Asha,  became  so  exalted  as  the 
passionate  honor  of  an  Holy  God  in  a  sense  supreme,  a 
deity  whose  creature,  the  very  foremost  of  all  the  other 
divine  beings  it  was  declared  to  be.*  What  an  exaltation, 
let  me  again  assert  it,  for  simple  but  awful  justice,  the  first 
pure  principle  of  all  sane  consciousness  at  least  in  man, 
and  as  we  see,  the  first  spiritual  force  in  God.  He  is  not 
an  "infinite  person,"  which  could  only  be  the  language  of 

*Mithra,  a  noble  God  indeed  like  the  most  exalted  of  our  Archangels, 
whose  cult  rivaled  Christianity  for  a  long  time. 


GOD  AND   HIS  IMMORTALS.  73 

inadvertence,  for  a  "person  cannot  be  infinite,"^  but  He 
is  a  universal  person  in  whom  we  live  and  move ;  the  Great 
Omnipotent,  Omniscient,  All-holy; — and  He  is  ashavan, 
no  liar. 

Vohu  Manah. 

Then  Vohu  Manah,  the  "Good  Mind,"  was  again  a 
thing  enthroned,  and  for  that  alone,  if  for  nothing  else, 
made  eminent.  This  was  again  too  a  curious  thought  in 
a  savage  age  in  far  off  Persia  to  be  placed  in  such  position 
— for  then  it  was  that  the  gods  of  Greece  wrangled  like 
vulgar  households  and  even  our  Jewish  Yahveh  was  a 
"consuming  fire." 

Vohu  Manah ; — it  was  a  deep  yearning  In  the  universe 
toward  all  the  good,  making  what  was  best  in  their  sendent 
longings  real.  It  was  more  than  a  tame  negation,  a  life- 
less acquiescence;  it  was  a  warm  breath  of  active  sym- 
pathy, a  passion  pervading  conscious  nature  everywhere 
like  a  befriending  instinct,  a  slender  thread  of  sweetness 
in  all  the  intricacies  of  interior  feeling  that  gives  us  hope 
through  the  maniac  jars  of  this  thing  which  we  call  life. 
Vohu  Manah ; — it  was  all  that  is  holiest  in  emotions,  fervor 
in  pure  breasts  and  brains;  the  quiet  force  in  the  love  of 
man  for  his  brother ;  the  power  in  the  noble  love  of  man  for 
woman  so  deep  and  so  transforming,  fierce  too  also  at 
times,  past  holding; — Vohu  Manah — it  is  the  father's  sol- 
emn all-giving  watchfulness  which  makes  the  name  of 
"son"  our  deepest  word. 

Above  all  else  it  is  the  mother-love,  that  nerve  of  all 
controlling  tenderness  planted  in  every  female  soul  over  a 
little  thing  endowed  for  that  very  reason  with  a  charm 
unspeakable, — to  win  and  keep.  And  this  Vohu  Manah 
is  again  not  left, — according  to  the  Gatha, — a  blind,  un- 
guided  force,  though  beatific,  in  the  world  of  sentient  be- 

' Definition  implies  limit;  see  below. 


74  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

ing; — it  is  an  attribute  and  emotion  of  a  Supreme  Person 
(morally  supreme) — Vohu  Manah, — it  meant  the  deep 
love  of  Almighty  God  for  all  the  righteous  living  under 
His  holy  eye; — His  creatures  all  the  good  were,  and  so 
was,  in  a  still  nearer  sense,  each  one  of  them  His  child. 

Khshathra. 

With  Khshathra  we  come  upon  the  deeply  fundamental 
element  of  Rule. 

Not  men,  nor  angels  can  persist  without  it.  Some 
forceful  form  of  right  is  needed  to  control  and  maintain 
the  Law  and  Love,  shaping  their  every  application 

Khshathra,  government,  administration! — without  it 
chaos  would  ensue.  With  anarchy  all  property  would  turn 
worthless;  no  man  could  earn  his  bread;  progress  would 
be  imperilled.  Khshathra  is  command,  severe  indeed  at 
times.  Strength  must  emerge  from  commonplace  while 
commonplace  resists  it.  Conspiracy  is  unveiled  by  govern- 
ment— law  put  in  force,  Khshathra  as  "strength"  meant 
discipline,  combination  with  organization ; — without  it  ral- 
lying points  would  be  difficult,  and  the  dush-Khshathra 
would  sweep  the  isolated  hordes  away.  Fields  could  not 
be  cultivated  save  from  Aeshma,  "Raid  fury  of  the  bloody 
spear."  And  Khshathra  rules  in  fact  in  every  sentient 
being  from  the  mammoths  to  the  ant-tribes,  while  man  is 
paramount  because  of  it.  And  what  a  satisfaction  have 
We  here  again,  who  believe  the  Gatha.  Khshathra  is  not 
alone  a  universal  law — though  marvelous  indeed  as  such 
he  would  be,  or  he  is — part  of  the  moving  crystallization 
of  the  ever  re-forming  universe ;  the  forceful  way  in  which 
things  come  and  hold  together,  while  like  the  flying  blood 
they  circulate.  It  is  more:  it  is  the  rule  of  our  So7'ereign 
God  over  us.  Where  would  be,  indeed,  the  Truth — in- 
stinct of  sincerity  though  it  is  ?  where  the  Love,  to  lead  us 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  75 

on,  if  there  be  no  actual  accordant  Power?  In  Gatha  it  is 
the  authority  of  God,  as  universal  Monarch,  exercising 
His  might  throughout  His  all-world  and  at  every  pulse. 

We  at  times  indeed  lose  courage,  recalling  our  human 
administrations ; — but  if  we  believe  that  God  is  King,  our 
hopes  revive.  According  to  the  divine  doctrine,  and  in  the 
full  implications,  every  needed  office  in  every  government, 
as  well  as  every  official,  was  and  is  in  the  very  fact  ener- 
gized and  vivified  by  Khshathra  as  the  controlling  force 
in  the  Life-spirit-Lord.  He  stands  through  Khshathra 
in  every  court  of  justice  seeing  that  the  wronged  are  pro- 
tected. With  his  Khshathra  he  controls  the  voice  of  evi- 
dence, the  judge's  faith.  He  is  present  in  the  arm  of  exe- 
cution, bars  the  prison  gates,  and  strikes  the  oppressor 
dead.  In  the  wide  conflicts  of  politics  He  is  above  all  things 
dominant,  as  Khshathra.  In  war  He  orders  the  compact 
mass  through  it; — straightens  the  flagging  lines.  It  is 
His  Khshathra  that  brings  on  verethraghna,  victory,  sav- 
ing an  imperiled  land; — and  in  the  result  His  authority 
supports  the  well-won,  or  the  long  established,  throne. 
God  is  everywhere  supreme  according  to  the  doctrine,  al- 
ways as  implied*^ — through  this  authority;  without  His 
firm  grasp  all  rules  would  be  reversed. 

Aramaiti. 

And  then  there  was  the  Aramaiti,  the  Toil-Mind,  the 
ara-thought  of  God ;  vivification  of  the  holy,  sacred  forces 
just  depicted,  the  self -movement  throughout  all  better 
things ;  motion  perpetual, — the  eternal  nerve  indeed  of  holi- 
ness never  for  an  instant  left  relaxed. 

The  Ara-mind  of  the  Truth  and  Love  and  Power, — 
first  stirring  the  ploughshare  in  the  mould, — to  ar  in  ara- 

'  Here  T  treat  once  for  all  the  mental  forces  implied  everywhere ;— seldom 
are  these  things  actually  expressed  in  Avesta  as  to  their  preciser  point;— but 
everywhere  implied  in  every  line. 


76  AVESTA   ESCHATOLOGY. 

trum,  — making  fair  life  possible,  displacing  murder,  theft 
and  arson. 

It  was  in  fact  in  the  first  keen  idea  of  it,  holy  work, — 
and  above  all  that  of  husbandry,  first  deed  of  virtue;  the 
very  earth  itself  from  this  took  on  the  name  in  both 
Veda  and  Avesta.  With  it  she  also  is  Aaramaiti,  and  as 
such  sacred.  Aramaiti  should  be  to  us  the  point  of  every- 
thing, the  practical  application  of  the  other  noble  three. 
It  was  the  central  open  secret  of  all  the  Gathic  existence ; 
and  it  was  vital.  It  was  the  life,  virile  thought  of  effort 
as  against  lazy  theft.  It  found  the  tribes  swept  by  the 
murderous  raids  of  ferocious  neighbors  drunk  with  greed, 
their  homes  destroyed,  their  crops  devastated,  and  their 
holy  herds  driven  off,  by  Aeshma.  Retaliation  threatened 
to  turn  them  too  to  murder;  but  the  Gathic  voice  arose, 
as  ever  fresh,  calling  for  civilization  with  honest  toil. 
The  armed  saint  of  the  Gathic  battle  was  the  fshushyant 
par  eminence  as  against  the  afshushyant, — this  distinctly. 

He  was  "the  cattle-breeding  husbandman"  toiling  in 
the  field  with  aro-thought,  as  against  Aeshma.  Where 
w^as  the  use  of  the  Law,  the  Love,  the  Authority  with 
hordes  of  starving  families  on  land  abandoned,  derelict, — 
with  savage  bands  rushing  often  headlong  in,  filling  their 
barns  with  the  plundered  crops  and  raided  flocks  of  mur- 
dered husbandmen? 

How  could  the  Law  prevail  without  something  in 
which  the  Law  could  have  its  existence, — a  nation.  Ara- 
maiti in  one  keen  sense  of  it,  and  at  its  first  idea  was  "in- 
dustry," as  I  insist — without  it  no  householder  could  accu- 
mulate the  very  means  of  civil  life;  for  it  is  the  persistent, 
wise,  practical  and  so  accumulating  citizen,  who  builds  up 
his  country,  as  we  know.  Blustering  disturbers,  even 
when  half  well-meaning,  waste  the  bread.  The  first  duty 
of  a  human  creature  is  to  earn  its  living;  if  it  does  not 

'  This  is  my  suggestion. 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  'J'J 

do  that,  it  eats  some  other  being's  food,  makes  others 
poorer,  is  the  cause  of  famine. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  make  my  idea  clear.  It  was 
energetic  occupation  and  first  of  all  for  the  one  thing 
needful,  bread,  honest  bread  for  the  hungry,  tilling  the 
Holy  Earth,  herself  the  sacred  Aramaiti.^  This  was  the 
idea's  origin,  as  I  think;  and  it  was  a  worthy  and  noble 
one,  becoming  soon  exalted  even  in  that  far-oflf  day  till 
it  took  its  place  upon  the  very  brow  of  Deity  among  the 
Creator's  attributes.  Here  too  it  gave  the  keynote  to  the 
rest. 

As  it  was  the  sacred  instinct  of  mind-directed  labor 
settling  the  destiny  of  man  toward  manhood,  stopping  his 
tendency  to  remain  a  beast  of  prey ;  so  it  became  zeal,  the 
"zeal  of  the  Lord  of  hosts"  in  other  cycles  of  idea — spon- 
taneous instigation,  instinctive  planned  activity.  It  was 
the  main-spring  of  the  never  erring  mechanism,  driving  on 
the  mother-love  with  ever-living  thrills  of  tenderness,  mov- 
ing on  forever  keen  and  fresh  the  father's  active  thoughtful- 
ness.  It  impelled  the  fire  of  mind  in  the  expressed  emotions 
of  the  singer  and  composer; — filled  out  the  organizer's 
schemes,  kept  up  the  ardor  of  the  scholar  keen  and  rapid 
and  maintained  it  discovering,  advancing.  It  was  the 
quickness  of  the  soldier,  combining  movements  at  a  glance, 
— the  genius  of  invention,  building  out  the  world's  capaci- 
ties. It  was  the  ara-maiti,  self-toiling  thought,  stirring 
the  hand  and  ear  of  creative  passion  everywhere.  It  was, 
in  a  word,  our  Inspiration. 

In  God,  the  divine  instinct  of  activity,  the  essential 
force  in  spirit-motion;  in  man  inspired  obedience,  in  wo- 
man, piety,  mild  indeed,  half  unconscious,  but  still  stren- 
uous through  all.  No  wonder  that  in  pleasing  memory 
God  called  it  "daughter."     It  is  the  burning  soul  of  the 

®  So  too  in  Veda. 


78  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

other  three,  the  friend  of  Truth,  the  sister  of  Mercy,  the 
handmaid  of  Command. 

Haurvatat. 

Haurvatat  was  the  completeness  of  it  all,  again  made 
here  magnificent.  She  was  the  realization  of  the  ideal,  the 
wealth  of  health,  and  the  health  of  wealth,  in  fact  that  very 
vision  of  perfection  that  should  float  as  an  ideal  on  the 
surface,  or  above  every  optimistic  scheme  to  help  it  on  and 
to  make  it  actual.  It  was,  in  a  word.  Fruition.  Who  has 
not  tasted  somewhat  of  it  at  fleeting  moments  ?  It  meant 
that  justice  should  be  more  than  a  delusive  subterfuge, 
hiding  the  sinister  approach  of  theft  forever  creeping 
towards  us.  It  meant  that  Love's  longings  should  some- 
time touch  their  dearest  goal,  that  just  power  should  really 
reach  dominion,  that  all  nature's  good  instincts  should 
succeed.  It  was  with  another's  word,  ''to  be  satisfied." 
The  name  itself  means  All-ness,  Haurvatat,  the  Vedic 
sarvatat,  the  great  wall  of  full  attainment  enclosing  the 
other  Four.  And  goal  and  aim  of  all  we  hope  for,  we  have 
again  the  satisfaction  of  it.  This  Allness  is  again  of  God: 
and  if  He  be  the  Haurva,  sarva,  All,  surely  there  is  some 
expectation  left  to  us  that  we  may  one  day  gain  what  our 
better  instincts  wish. 

Ameretatat. 

While  Immortality,  as  ever  lifted  up  in  Attribute, 
should  be  the  permanence.  God  has  no  beginning,  and  so 
we  all  shrink  with  Him  from  an  ending.  Death  is  to 
some  of  us,  delusively,  woe's  ultimate.  One  can  scarce 
refrain  from  citing  the  schooldays'  rhymes  so  beautiful, 
though  sad,  of  Halleck : 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  79 

"Come  to  the  bridal  chamber,  Death ! 

Come  to  the  mother's,  when  she  feels 
For  the  first  time  her  first-born's  breath ! 

Come  when  the  blessed  seals 
That  close  the  pestilence  are  broke, 
And  crowded  cities  wail  its  stroke ! 
Come  in  consumption's  ghastly  form, 
The  earthquake  shock,  the  ocean  storm ! 
Come  when  the  heart  beats  high  and  warm, 

With  banquet  song,  and  dance,  and  wine ! 
And  thou  art  terrible ! — the  tear, 
The  groan,  the  knell,  the  pall,  the  bier, 
And  all  we  know  or  dream  or  fear 

Of  agony  are  thine." 

But  the  holy  faith  held  .out  its  banishment.  The  glory 
of  the  Truth,  the  deep  satisfaction  of  the  Love,  the  sense 
of  safety  from  the  Power,  the  Inspiration  and  the  Fruition 
should  not  end  in  inanition.  The  cup  was  not  to  be  put  to 
the  lip  only  to  excite  desire,  and  to  be  dashed  from  it.  There 
was  to  be  an  Ameretatat — death-absence.  Like  the  Aditi 
of  the  Veda,  Ahura  was  without  beginrwng  of  days,  and 
so  consequently  without  end  of  years : — Eternity,  Oh  Eter- 
nity ! — this,  in  another  sense.  As  there  was  no  beginning 
in  God,  so  there  was  never  a  beginning  to  His  works.  He 
had  put  them  forth  from  past  eternity,  and  He  will  continue 
to  do  the  like  on  to  endless  futurity,  the  same ; — and  so  the 
life  of  the  holy  man  should  be  deathless  to  a  degree  even 
here;  but  it  should  be  also  supernaturally  immortal; — and 
this,  when  pointed,  awoke  everywhere  the  deepest  hope, 
''bringing  life  and  immortality  to  light."  Strange  as  it  may 
seem  to  us,  the  other  life  came  largely  from  Arya,  from 
Iran,  from  India.  Veda  with  Avesta  first  pointed  its  sig- 
nificance. The  Semites  could  at  first  see  little  reason  in  it. 
The  great  doctrine  however  is  the  vital  force  of  Christian- 
ity, and  the  habitable  world,  so  far  as  it  is  Christian,  has 
lived  on  it  for  nineteen  hundred  years.     Such  are  the  im- 


8o  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

mortals  of  the  Gatha  in  their  ideas  expanded,  well-called 
the  "august,"  as  they  are.  This  only,  be  it  noticed,  is 
their  meaning  in  the  first  keen  conception  of  them  in  the 
first  department  of  the  Gatha; — and  they  are  as  I  need 
hardly  linger  to  re-asse^rate,  the  sublimest  conceptions 
of  their  particular  kind  that  the  world  had  till  then  ever 
seen,®  for  here  they  were  signally  assembled  for  us, — and 
doubly  re-consecrated,  as  the  essence  of  all  holiness  in  a 
pure  God  personified. 

Their  Counterparts. 

But  the  Opposer  intervenes; — for,  as  against  the  su- 
preme Life-Spirit-Lord,  with  His  six  characteristics,  and 
in  the  pervading  antithesis  of  the  system  the  great  An- 
tagonistic Being,  Angra  Mainyu,^*'  the  Evil  Spirit,  appears, 
and  stands  in  great  prominence  as  perhaps  the  most  defined 
concept  of  the  kind  ever  advanced  in  all  well-known  theol- 
ogy.   He  is  the  Creator  of  all  that  is  averse  to  the  Good. 

His  attributes  are  not  as  yet  at  all  so  closely  summar- 
ized in  the  Gathas  as  those  of  Ahura  are,  nor  are  they  in- 
deed formally  collected  even  in  the  later  but  still  genuine 
Avesta.  They  are  however  yet  both  implicitly  and  ex- 
plicitly present  in  the  Gatha  as  in  the  later  Avesta,  and  with 
incisive  force  throughout. 

Asha,  the  holy  rhythm  of  fidelity  in  God  and  nature, 
first^*  of  the  sacred  and  august  six  Attributes  just  above 
discussed,**  is  met  at  every  turn  by  its  contradictory  oppo- 
site, manifested,  as  might  be  expected,  in  the  sinister  shifts 
of  subterfuge. 

•  In  such  remarks  I  refer,  as  I  always  try  to  make  it  plain,  to  well  certified 
written  lores. 

'"Literally  the  "Torturing  Spirit"  from  the  idea  of  "tortion,"  but  the  literal 
ideas  of  etymology  are  seldom  to  be  followed  closely  in  defining  the  particular 
meanings  of  a  word.     Simply  "evil"  is  the  sense. 

"  So  in  the  original  documents,— the  Gathas ;  Asha  leads  us  to  its  interjor 
force  and  meaning.  Not  so  later ;  Vohu  Manah  gained  the  prior  place,  doubt- 
less, from  its  pleasing  significance. 

^  See  above. 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  8l 

Jealousy,  that  first  recognized  of  all  the  loathsome  in- 
stincts in  Bible,  Veda,  Iliad,  and  our  Avesta,  sheds  its 
green  gleam  over  the  form  of  truthful  innocence  with  the 
natural  results  at  once  apparent,  the  young,  like  Abel,  in 
their  first  truthfulness  are  everywhere  betrayed. 

Suspicion,  alas  too  often  justified,  is  sown  throughout. 
Treachery,  as  we  even  see  it  now,  more  and  more  pervaded 
intercourse,  till  Ferocity  abode  its  time. 

Murder  was  the  mere  outspoken  expression  of  it  all, 
led  ofif,  as  might  be  expected,  by  the  offspring  of  the  first 
human  pair  (see  Genesis)  ;  or  later  on  in  a  finer  garb  as 
wreathed  in  the  glare  of  a  madman's  joy  it  appeared  in  the 
hour  of  long  planned  infamy,  the  assassin  gloating  over  his 
victim.  Every  uncanny  desire  was  more  than  satisfied. 
Surely  this  is  a  very  sinister  side  of  existence — of  the  privi- 
lege of  consciousness  itself,  and  the  first  thought  which 
brought  on  these  delineations  is  the  Lie  of  the  sneaking 
sycophant,  the  Druj,  She-Devil,  first  daughter  of  the  king 
Dushahu. 

Then  comes,  less  sickening,  but  still  revolting,  the  Akem 
Manah.  It,  or  **he,"  stands  out  as  against  Vohumanah; 
as  the  Druj  stands  out  against  Asha;  and  we  may  well 
term  it  Hate,  the  concentration  of  woe's  passions,  as  the 
Druj  was  their  inception — the  continued  forth-action  of 
the  doomed  nature.  As  the  mother  in  the  love  of  Vohu 
Manah  yearns  after  her  little  second  self,  her  transmitted 
soul,  so  the  Akem  Manah,  blind  Fury  of  Aeshma,  stands 
ready  to  destroy  it.  Fair  youths,  each  moved  with  noblest 
instincts,  still  meet  in  murderous  conflict,  and  fathers 
mourn  their  life's  lost  hopes; — for  what?  Wars  hated 
by  mothers  still  wrap  whole  continents  in  flames,  as  blight 
wipes  away  wide  provinces  of  ripening  food.  Famine 
falls  upon  the  world's  most  simple  living  inhabitants. 

Pestilence  strikes  terror  where  it  does  not  more  merci- 
fully, swiftly  kill — while  frightful  nightmares  of  futurity 


82  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

cloud  the  early  days  of  the  thoughtful  child,  diverting  at 
times  even  the  strong  man's  life  to  worthless  channels 
later  on,  and  the  dying  sometimes  await  with  benumbed 
conviction  the  frights  cff  certain  Hell,  merciful  Nature 
deadening  the  otherwise  tortured  faculties.  It  is  the  Akem 
Manah,  ''the  Evil  plan"  as  we  might  almost  term  it,  pre- 
ferring also  perhaps  the  other  form  of  the  adjective,  the 
superlative  achishtem;  —  not  the  "evil"  only  but  the 
"Worsf  Mind; — and  this,  always  according  to  the  anal- 
ogies worked  out  through  implication,  is  what  murder- 
ously conflicted  with  our  Vohu  Manah  everywhere — poi- 
soning the  thoughts  of  that  blessed  instinct  of  "Good- 
Will."  And  as  against  God's  Authority  Khshathra,  be- 
nignant and  merciful,  restraining  only  to  compact,  ame- 
liorate and  save,  we  have  the  overwhelming  despots  of 
Dush  Khshathra.  Government,  meant  to  be  the  arm  of 
truth  and  God's  right  hand,  and  raised  aloft  for  good  to 
repress  the  outbursting  impulses  of  the  young,  to  protect 
the  wronged, — and  punish  the  agents  of  the  Akem  Manah, 
is  met  by  the  Evil  Power.  At  times,  even  affected  with 
uncontrolled  cerebral  mania, — the  half  mad  imbeciles  of 
despotism,  that  is  of  "inverted  power,"  wreak  vengeance 
on  the  innocent  for  their  existence  and  their  excellence, 
taking  from  their  children's  lips  the  bread  of  sustenance. 
Those  who  save  their  country  by  great  deeds  must  be  pre- 
pared for  simple  murder.  Hard  earned  results  stored 
carefully  for  an  evil  day  are  snatched  off  in  a  moment; — 
slaves  must  see  their  labor's  wage  paid  to  their  masters, 
with  gross  indulgence  for  their  recompense.  Justice  must 
be  laughed  at  and  the  silliest  of  untruths  laboriously  propa- 
gated. 

Or,  again,  wild  chaos  must  sweep  everything  in  the 
poor  hopeless  efforts  at  reform, — too  much  force  being 
less  fatal  than  too  little.  Tyranny  in  the  form  of  Anarchy 
leaves  misery  redoubled.     The  helpless  blinded  lead  on 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  83 

the  poorer  blind.  Indiscipline,  false  liberty,  leaves  all 
things  lost. — Such  was  the  Dush-Khshathra,  essence  of  the 
impulses  which  lived  in  the  tyrants  of  the  Yasna. 

And  then  for  Aramaiti,  God's  self-moved  inspiration 
in  the  good,  there  was  Taramaiti, — the  Insolence  Irre- 
pressible, bold  genius  of  effrontery.  It  was  by  implication 
and  from  analogies  active  like  the  Aramaiti,  and  it  gloried 
in  its  shame.  It  was  what  makes  a  mock  of  piety  shouting 
its  wild  chorus  in  ribald  chants  to  infamy;  it  was  the 
wantonness  of  the  Lie,  the  Hate,  the  Tyranny,  while  bla- 
tant. 

We  know  such  things  too  plainly — they  are  the  shrieks 
from  our  madhouse  windows,  the  travestied  hymns  of 
midnight  streets,  the  crime  of  those  who  "draw  iniquity 
with  a  cord  of  vanity,  and  sin  as  it  were  with  a  cart  rope." 
And  there  is  then  its  fell  result — the  very  Completeness, 
Haurvatat,  of  the  Holy  God  has,  on  this  doctrine,  its  aw- 
ful negative.  The  Supreme  (?)  Deity  faces  a  territory 
which  He  Himself  has  never  trod,  while  His  adversary 
has  his  emissaries  everywhere  within  His  own  dominions 
— with  the  result  that  all  is  approximately  marred.  Dis- 
ease, to  state  the  first  cursed  evil  now  suggested  here, 
stands  ready  in  a  thousand  forms  to  terrify  as  well  as  ruin. 
That  one  firm  work  of  God,  the  blest  balance  of  the  bodily 
and  mental  powers  which  we  call  Health,  sole  condition 
of  efifective  normal  action,  is  jeoparded. 

Demoniac  laughter  greets  foul  evils  worse  than  leprosy ; 
poisons  which  revolt  the  touch  and  nostril  are  lightly 
passed  along;  the  dying  agonies  of  helpless  hearts  are 
made  the  call  for  roars  of  approbation,  while  to  the  good, 
a  sorrow  well-nigh  intensified  to  mania  at  times  settles 
over  everything;  the  wine  cup  with  its  lighter  ruin  has 
given  place  to  the  scorching  flame  of  the  spirit  poison  put 
to  the  lips  of  the  helpless  poor,  while  the  cyclone  of  finan- 
cial panic  sweeps  over  the  face  of  populations  white  with 


84  AVESTA  ESCHATOLOGY. 

terror,  like  the  face  of  Ocean  swept  white  with  hurricanes, 
wrecking  homes  forever; — the  treason  of  some  thieving 
fiend  fills  up  the  cup,  turning  the  household  to  the  streets, 
capped  by  the  remorse  of  the  silly  victim,  trusting  the  man 
hyena  with  his  all. 

Haurvatat,  the  blessed  Real  of  the  Ideal,  is  indeed  met 
by  an  Incompleteness  which  has  made  us  almost  doubt 
whether  the  Evil  One  of  the  Two  Colossi  has  not  indeed 
sometimes  had  the  upper  hand;  and  whether  life  itself  be 
not  the  curse  of  all  of  us. 

And  as  against  the  Immortal  Being  of  our  God  the 
Life-Spirit-Lord,  and  that  of  His  saints  in  Earth  and 
Heaven  there  was,  and  is,  the  ever  dread  alternative ; — as 
seen  above. 

Even  where  we  are  awake  to  see  in  Her,  nature's  soft 
second  nurse,  the  sweet  ending  of  a  life  well  spent,  a  fight 
well  fought, — ^yet,  how  we  recoil — poor  self-blinded  human 
nature  that  we  are — aye,  how  we  recoil  even  from  that 
calm  non-entity  from  which  we  came.  Then  what  Death 
is  not  to  the  Dying  it  is  that  redoubled  to  the  bereaved :  to 
miss  the  beloved  form;  to  see  the  dear  face  fade  away — 
here  agonies  are  real  indeed ;  and  the  end  though  it  be  not 
indeed  the  King  of  terrors,  yet  it  is  verily  the  Queen  of 
sorrows, — indomitacque  morti ! 

Such  are  the  Six  Attributes  of  the  Antagonistic  Being 
— extracted  by  ourselves  from  the  course  of  Gathic 
thought. — The  deeper  Searcher,  let  me  say  it  here  in  pass- 
ing,— who  is  more  anxiously  scrutinizing  the  interior  psy- 
chic forces  here  present,  will  be  gratified  to  see  our  one 
main  point  here  strengthened.  These  Attributes — let  us 
note  it  well  in  passing — are  still  only  one  of  them  at  all 
with  certainty  personified;  and,  as  said  above,  they  are 
nowhere  gathered  like  the  Holy  Seven;  and  this  points 
that  most  incisive  of  phenomena,  the  strange  deep  abstract 
nature  of  the  Six,  for  if  five  of  the  six  corresponding  qual- 


GOD  AND  HIS  IMMORTALS.  85 

ities  of  Angra  Mainyu  gathered  by  ourselves  from  the 
antitheses  of  the  Gatha  are  thus  so  obviously  abstract, 
this  strong  fact  goes  to  make  out  the  abstractness  of  our 
collected  six  beatifications  all  the  more  distinctly;  and  it 
is  on  this  that  momentous  issues  of  the  past  once  hung. 
Yet  the  two  chief  ones  of  each  of  the  Seven,  I  mean  Ahura 
and  Angra  Mainyu — are  here  personified  beyond  all  man- 
ner of  doubt,  God  as  Ahura  Mazda,  with  His  fell  opponent. 
It  might  be  considered  strange  indeed  that  I  should  for 
one  moment  mention  such  a  thing  so  obvious;  but  here  I 
must  be  thorough  and  exhaustive  in  a  certain  light  of  it. 
Some  of  my  readers  will  doubtless  understand  why  I  dwell 
on  such  an  apparently  all-obvious  item.  They  are  indeed 
great  conscious  beings  personified,  and  beyond  all  doubt  of 
it  the  first  ever  so  presented  in  all  history;  and  we  should 
pause  here  to  recall  and  gather  up  all  that  this  great  fact 
has  in  it. 


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